Gov. Tina Kotek announced she’s sending $5 million in state funding to food banks on Wednesday as Oregon braces for a cutoff of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program expected at the start of November.

The program, often called SNAP, is federally funded and the cutoff is due to the ongoing partial government shutdown. The program feeds more than 1 in 6 people in the state, who use the money to buy groceries. Oregon has warned that more than 750,000 people in the state could lose their monthly benefits.

Kotek is tapping unspent funds from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, the federal program that aids low-income families with children. With the federal food assistance program being cut off, the expectation is that more people will turn toward food banks.

Kotek’s announc

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