Federal funds used to help buy food for millions of American to run out by Saturday
發佈日期: 2025-10-28 20:28
TVB News
In the United States, federal funds that help tens of millions of Americans to buy food for their families and send their toddlers to preschool could begin to run dry by Saturday.
Funding for another programme that helps mothers care for their newborns could run out the following week. This if Congress does not reach a deal soon to end the US government shutdown.
The countdown is on to figure out how to keep food on the table for nearly 42 million Americans who receive SNAP, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.The US Department of Agriculture says that the debt cards that beneficiaries use to buy food won't be replenished in November due to the government shutdown.
Geoff Mulvihill, The Associated Press said: "This is significant news for about 42 million Americans, about one in eight people in the US. They rely on the programme to buy groceries.
The announcement has left food pantries and food banks scrambling as well as individuals, several of whom have told the Associated Press that if they don't have the aid, they're going to have to choose between groceries and other bills."
The World Central Kitchen began distributing food to furloughed federal workers in Washington DC this week as the US enters its fourth week of a government shutdown with no end in sight.
Marco Sanchez, Wold Central Kitchen said: "Our mission is very simple, we feed people. And we show up in places around the world, across the country as well where there is a need.
We have teams out in Gaza and Ukraine, but we've also had teams out in Texas after the floods, in parts of the south after hurricanes. And so this is just another way of us giving back to the community and feeding people during times of need."
Federal workers thankful for the extra cushion during this time.
Elizabeth Anderson, furloughed NASA employee said: "It's a little challenging to be a federal employee right now, not knowing when we'll head back to work. I'm thankful for the work that World Central Kitchen's doing, just to give us extra cushion for the furlough."
Humberto Lopez, furloughed Department of Defense employee said: "It's starting to get real. You know we just missed the paycheck, so definitely moving money around playing money games. And you know, you can't sustain this for much longer. At some point, you're just gonna dry out your savings and all that and you know when you have kids and daycare, mortgages and all that, you know banks aren't waiting around for you to get paid. They're essentially ...I mean my bank told me they're going to put us on forbearance when we miss our first payment."
The Trump administration has rejected the idea of using some 5-billion dollars in contingency money to keep providing the federal cash for food, saying that reserve is limited to expenses such as help after disasters.
