Food banks and local officials are preparing for sudden emergency need across Tennessee on Nov. 1. A flurry of grassroots coordination, political pleas and legal news — including two last-minute federal court orders — have created confusion about whether the federal government will supply expected SNAP benefits next month.

In ordinary times, some 690,000 Tennesseans could expect a new round of federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program food benefits in the open ing days of each new month. A gridlocked Congress has instead pushed the ongoing government shutdown into its second month, making USDA-funded SNAP benefits the latest casualty of D.C. partisan negotiations. While federal judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island issued orders on Friday compelling the USDA to disburse SNAP

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