The Millions of Poor Americans at the Mercy of the Shutdown
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What is the impact of the government shutdown on SNAP benefits?
This is Andrew Ross Sorkin, the founder of Dealbook. Every year, I interview some of the world's most influential leaders across politics, culture, and business at the Dealbook Summit, a live event in New York City. On this year's podcast, you'll hear my unfiltered conversations with Gavin Newsom, the CEO of Palantir and Anthropic, and Erica Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk. Listen to Dealbook Summit wherever you get your podcasts.
From The New York Times, I'm Rachel Abrams, and this is The Daily. You get benefits on the first, yeah?
Yeah. And what happened today?
They just didn't load.
It says that they will arrive, but they will be late.
The Trump administration has agreed to restore some of the funding for the food program known as SNAP. But there's still uncertainty about how much money will come through and when. What would that normally look like today? It would be like $7.80. Is there an account balance? I have 12 cents. Tens of millions of Americans, one in eight, rely on SNAP. Without federal assistance, many people do not know how they will provide for themselves or their families.
I adopted my grandson. He's two. And it's terrifying thinking I can't feed him.
Now that that's been frozen, I literally have nothing in the house.
It's not everybody's fault that Congress can't make a decision on a bill. So they shouldn't punish the low-income family, the needy people, because that's what we rely on.
Today, we hear from people in one of the communities most reliant on food aid, and from my colleague Tony Rahm about the ongoing fight over SNAP as the government enters its second month of a shutdown. It's Tuesday, November 4th.
Are we getting going? Looks like we're going to start rolling now.
Last Friday, Daily producers Olivia Knatt and Anna Foley went to Kermit, West Virginia, a rural town of about 300 people.
How about heavy? Apples and meat, same thing. One per family, up to two families per cart.
There was a mobile food pantry set up outside a Baptist church. Volunteers loaded items including eggs, potatoes, plums, and cucumbers into people's cars. Honey, that's good. Thank you. West Virginia is one of the top recipients of SNAP benefits in the country. About 16% of West Virginians get food assistance through SNAP. And even with the extra help, a lot of people rely on food pantries, especially at the end of the month, and especially this month, when there hasn't been much clarity about whether benefits were coming or not. Hi there. My name's Olivia. I'm with the New York Times. Walking down the line of cars, Olivia and Anna spoke to people about what they were planning to do next.
I am. You all want to talk? My name's Anna. So could you start by telling me your name and, you know, where you're from, how long you've lived here, a little bit about yourself?
My name is Roy Messer, and I'm from Kermit, West Virginia.
My name is Teresa Hodge. I live here on Stone Co., right down the hall. My name is Brianna Lockhart. I was a stay-at-home mama for a while, but just recently went back to work because of the shutdown that's going on.
And what brings you guys out here today?
Well, right now times are rough. I mean, they took the food stamps. You got to do what you got to do.
Feed your family.
I'm picking up for me and I brought my cousin with me so she can get me.
Get some meat.
Yeah, that's what they said. It was supposed to be meat and some food.
I've seen the list and they have turkey and eggs.
That'll work.
At least I'll be able to have something for Thanksgiving.
What can a box of food do? Like, what is the impact for your family?
Well, that's going to be able to effectively feed my family for an extra week. You know, we're going to be in a struggle to make sure that it's either going to be food or bills because even though my wife works full time, we still depend on SNAP benefits to help get us through buying the extra meat and stuff like that.
Since there'll be no stamps, this food bank will be the only food I have to go in my house.
How much money do you receive, if you don't mind me asking?
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