A Food and Nutrition Service worker who warned on television that the government shutdown would starve the poor is being fired from her job.

Ellen Mei, a 29-year-old employee of the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, received an official notice that she would be fired less than 24 hours after appearing on MSNBC, where she said people on food stamps were being used as “political pawns.” Mei is also a union official, as president of NTEU Chapter 255 in Boston.

“We’re feeling angry that we’re being treated as political pawns so that billionaires can have more money while the people that we serve are being strained even further,” she told MSNBC host Chris Jansing of Chris Jansing Reports.

In her appearance, Mei said she felt SNAP was “okay” for the month of October, but added “things might g

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