In Washington, Republican leaders pushed to pass a budget deal Thursday that would also strip tax money from Planned Parenthood.
Senate Democrats, however, blocked the measure; now, a short-term funding bill is needed to prevent a government shutdown next week.
If a shutdown happens, it could impact people like Ashley Wilson, who rely on food stamps or SNAP benefits to feed their family each month.
“It makes it a lot easier knowing there’s something I can depend on,” said Wilson, the mother of an special needs child.
By next week those services could be cut, the USDA says a government shutdown could immediately suspend or delay food stamp payments for 46 million people throughout the United States.
“We would have to find new ways to put food on the table and we’re already struggling to find jobs right now,” said Wilson,
“it makes me feel like they don’t pay attention to the needs of certain people”
Wilson is one of nearly 800,000 people in South Carolina that receive monthly food benefits.
In the 2013 government shutdown, food stamps were not affected, and the Agriculture Department did not give details on why funding would not continue this time.
Democrats say the USDA doesn’t have enough money in reserve to pay a full month’s benefits.
As for Wilson, she thinks she can get by ok in the mean time, “it’s all about how you spend and how you save. the good thing is beyond food stamps is we coupon.”
Still, Wilson thinks the the wrong people are suffering over a budget battle in Washington, “there are people who are hard working people and still can’t make it and that kind of program puts food on the table.”
Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell vowed to work with Congressional Republicans to avoid a government shutdown when the budget year ends October first, but he has not explicitly stated what he’ll do.
