Government Shutdown: SNAP Benefits Stop for November, and 2.9 Million Floridians Are Caught in the Lapse

The federal government shutdown enters its 32nd day on Sunday, and its sharpest edge yet lands at the grocery store. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has posted a notice saying federal food aid will not go out on November 1: "Bottom line, the well has run dry," the notice says. "At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01." The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — SNAP, commonly called food stamps — serves about 42 million people, roughly one in eight Americans, according to the Associated Press.

The lapse is a choice being fought over in Washington, not an empty treasury. The administration has said it will not tap roughly $5 billion in contingency funds to keep November benefits flowing, and a USDA memo that surfaced this week says the contingency funds are not legally available to cover regular benefits and are reserved for needs such as disaster areas. Democratic lawmakers have written to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins asking the department to use the contingency money to cover the bulk of November's benefits, the Associated Press reported. The shutdown, which began October 1, is now the second-longest on record.

Florida carries one of the heaviest loads in the country: about 2.9 million Floridians receive SNAP benefits, including roughly 187,000 people in Duval County, according to Florida Policy Institute figures reported by News4JAX. A second nutrition program is on the clock behind it — the Orlando Sentinel reported that Florida's WIC program, which serves women, infants and young children, could begin running out of money within two weeks if no funding deal is reached.

What the shutdown does not stop is the election. Balloting in the November 3 midterms proceeds on schedule, and Duval County's early voting runs its final day on Sunday — even as the federal food help many of those same voters rely on sits paused in Washington.