For People Who Need Assistance, The Lingering Shutdown Could Mean A Food Crisis
Food assistance in the form of SNAP benefits came early this month due to the shutdown. But in Pennsylvania, recipients are spending the benefits quickly, and there may be no new funds for February.
The longest government shutdown in U.S. history has some of the country's poorest residents worried about how they're going to stay fed.
In Pennsylvania, no place has more trouble keeping food on the table than the town of Reading, population 88,000, about an hour outside of Philadelphia. Nearly half of all households there receive food stamps, the highest rate in the state.
The human toll of that statistic can be found everywhere, including among the people lining up for a monthly food pantry operated by St. James Chapel Church of God.
That's where Janelle Rosado waits. She receives about $300 a month in food stamps loaded onto a government-issued debit card to help feed herself and her three kids at home, but
