The Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance and leaders of the state’s six food banks held a press call Friday to sound the alarm over the potential cutoff of SNAP benefits if the federal government shutdown continues into November.

SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is also known as food stamps. The Arkansas Department of Human Services warned on Wednesday that the roughly 222,000 Arkansans who use SNAP to buy groceries could see their benefits delayed or disrupted if Congress doesn’t agree to a deal to reopen the government soon.

DHS has been in touch with the U.S. Department of Agriculture — the federal agency that disburses SNAP — about how to proceed, the agency said Wednesday. DHS also suggested that SNAP beneficiaries identify local food pantries, churches and communit

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