The current federal government shutdown will become the longest in history tomorrow if a miracle resolution doesn’t appear. But aside from the federal employees who have been furloughed (or worse yet, have been forced to work without pay) since October 1, the most visible consequences began this past weekend, when federal funding for the SNAP (a.k.a. food stamps) program lapsed , potentially affecting the 42 million Americans who rely on this benefit for their daily bread. The Trump administration has claimed it has no legal way to replace any of the lapsed funds, despite the existence of a $6 billion congressionally authorized emergency fund devised for just this purpose.

On Friday two different federal district judges (in Massachusetts and in Rhode Island) ordered the administra

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