"The federal government shutdown has dragged into another week, and Republicans and Democrats appear no closer to ending it. Many federal workers have missed paychecks, including air traffic controllers, who are working unpaid. Meanwhile, uncertainty remains for tens of millions of people who rely on federal food and nutrition benefits like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, previously known as food stamps. The benefits had been set to expire on Saturday due to the government shutdown."
"Why did the federal government shut down? A partisan argument over if and when lawmakers need to act to extend subsidies for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces led to the current shutdown. Some 24 million people who don't have insurance through their jobs or a public program like Medicaid use the system to buy health plans. Prominent Republican lawmakers have claimed the Democrats are looking to provide tax dollars to help pay for the health care of undocumented immigrants. That is not true."
The federal government shutdown extended into another week, leaving many federal workers without pay. Tens of millions who rely on federal nutrition benefits such as SNAP faced benefit expirations scheduled for Saturday. Two federal judges ordered the administration to use emergency funding for SNAP, but the timing and amount of assistance remained unclear. Food banks began preparing for potential lapses in SNAP funding. The Agriculture Department said it would reopen about 2,100 county offices to help farmers access $3 billion in aid amid financial stress from trade policies. A partisan dispute over extending ACA marketplace subsidies triggered the shutdown.
Read at www.npr.org
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