Washington state food aid to end Nov. 1 if shutdown continues
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Food benefits in Washington state are slated to end later this week due to the ongoing government shutdown.
Why it matters: More than 540,000 households in Washington — nearly 930,000 people — received Basic Food assistance benefits last month, according to state officials.
- Those benefits will stop after Friday, unless Congress reaches an agreement to fund the government by then, Norah West, a spokesperson for the state Department of Social and Health Services, wrote in an email to Axios.
What they're saying: "Losing food assistance will have devastating impacts on the well-being of Washingtonians and hurt local economies across the state," West wrote.
What's happening: Washington's Basic Food Program is mainly funded through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which will stop issuing benefits Nov. 1 if the government shutdown continues.
- Nationwide, about 42 million Americans who receive food assistance through SNAP are set to have their benefits cut off Saturday.
State of play: The shutdown, which began Oct. 1, is now the second longest in U.S. history.
Catch up quick: Senate Democrats are asking Republicans to extend expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies in exchange for Democratic votes needed to fund the government.
- Republicans, who control the House, Senate and White House, have said they won't negotiate on the health care subsidies unless Democrats vote to reopen the government first.
What they're saying: "These political games are harming the most vulnerable Washingtonians," Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said in an emailed statement. "President Trump and Congressional Republicans are to blame for this unnecessary crisis."
- Republicans, meanwhile, have continued to blame Democrats.
- "Government workers and every other American affected by this shutdown have become nothing more than pawns in the Democrats' political games," U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday on the Senate floor.
Friction point: Democrats have called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to use contingency funds to continue providing SNAP payments in November.
- But the department said in a memo last week that those funds "are not legally available" for that purpose.
What we're watching: If the shutdown continues into next week, it could surpass the previous shutdown record, which lasted five weeks from December 2018 through January 2019.