The impact of the partial government shutdown can be felt as over 800,000 people have had to miss their paychecks twice. The shutdown can be felt in homes across Northern Oklahoma as some local residents are wondering how they will be able to put food on the table if the shutdown continues into the upcoming months.
The United States Department of Agriculture ordered the state Department of Human Services to issue its nutritional program benefits for February to be paid to recipients on January 20 to avoid those being frozen. The federally funded Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program will pay benefits to the thousands of Oklahomans, along with millions of other families across the U.S. , who receive help buying food through the program in the coming month. The USDA made the move to issue February’s benefits early as emergency effort to stave off the potential for a nationwide financial crunch that could leave many families hungry.
Members of DHS said this will help benefit 610,000 Oklahomans who depend on the SNAP Program. Oklahoma recipients had their benefits for the coming month deposited onto their SNAP debit card, or EBT, as they normally would have, but much earlier than normal. The program provides food assistance for nearly 875,000 Oklahoma residents in 2018. SNAP usually deposits food either the first or fifth of the month, but deposited early this time around due to the partial government shutdown.
