2w ago

Shutdown pain intensifies as air traffic controllers lose pay, and food assistance is drying up

www.nbcnews.com

Food assistance, health care costs, air travel, and military pay all face major strain if the shutdown extends beyond this week.

The pain of a U.S. government shutdown is poised to intensify this week as the funding lapse nears a full month with no resolution in sight.

A series of deadlines in the coming days could have negative consequences for ordinary Americans, cutting off food assistance for low-income Americans, raising health insurance premiums for millions on Obamacare and depriving air-traffic controllers, TSA agents and other federal workers of paychecks.

SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps, are slated to dry up on Nov. 1 without congressional action, impacting an estimated 40 million low-income Americans across red and blue states.

13 comments

"Shutdown pain" is awful right-wing spin. During previous shutdowns these things didn't happen because the executive branch didn't stop paying for them. The Trump Admin bears sole responsibility for choosing to do this
- always a reason we should relate to our supposed masters and always a reason why they are so benevolent without any faults
  democrats not doing shit is just as bad a republican doing shit
  
  Oh there you go again
Food assistance is on the administration — they have the reserves to keep aid going, but they choose cruelty and grift instead. Fake scarcity is one of authoritarians’ favorite tools.
Billions for his friends in Argentina but not a penny for starving US citizens.
Still beats me why America voted for this. History repeats I guess.
- Defund education and you deny people the opportunity to learn from history.
  
  Even with funded education, the average person has no interest in educating themselves. Most humans are just morons who are easily manipulated.
- when the owner class owns the baby products and parent tools and owns the school materials we learn on and the news plus all media we consume as well as the food we eat and all the ads we consume and of course our voting machines then the system becomes rigged and means no free agency which democracy cannot live without
I work at a food pantry, we are open one day a week. Pre Trump the average was 25 families, our typical now is 36. Yesterday there were 55 famlies, 150 people total. I don't know what we are going to do next week if the snap benefits lapse. We can't handle that many people regularly.
- last food bank visited had out of date food, not diet dependent such as a senior that has to watch sugar levels, as you mentioned very restrictive schedules, etcetera
  been an adhesive bandage for centuries along with faith-based assistance and past time we remedy the issues causing any hunger
  
  Agreed that the reason people are hungry needs to be addressed. However, it's far better than nothing faith based or otherwise.
  I won't get started on a bank vs. a pantry, but they are different. What a pantry offers and when they are open varies drastically between pantries. Out of date food does not necessarily mean that it isn't safe to eat. The FDA has a table of food types and when to throw it away. Canned and dried foods are typically good well past the expiration date.
Why'd Obama do this?

13 comments