SNAP recipients told to buy shelf-stable food as funding deadline looms

Recipients of SNAP food assistance benefits across the country face a looming deadline: Come Nov. 1, their cards may not get refilled because of the government shutdown in Washington. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which serves nearly 42 million people each month, allocates money to states on a monthly basis. Benefits were largely uninterrupted over the past three weeks because funding for October was allocated to states before the shutdown began on Oct. 1. But