"The disabled mother of three from Perth Amboy, New Jersey, had to visit food banks and skip meals so that her children could eat after the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program abruptly stopped paying out benefits on November 1. After running out of money to buy milk and watching her refrigerator go bare as Congress held a series of failed votes on a funding bill, Tracey told me, she now lives in fear that the federal aid she receives could be cut off again."
"In the week since the record-setting 43-day shutdown ended, more than 1 million federal workers have resumed their jobs and begun receiving back pay, food aid has started flowing again to 42 million Americans like Tracey, and the air-travel limitations that snarled airports have been lifted. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the billions of dollars the shutdown sapped from the economy will mostly reappear in the form of higher spending in future months,"
The longest-ever government shutdown ended on November 12 after 43 days, but many Americans continue to suffer immediate and lasting consequences. More than 1 million federal workers resumed jobs and began receiving back pay, and food aid restarted for 42 million recipients, yet households experienced acute shortages and resorted to food banks. Infrastructure projects were canceled, costing thousands of jobs. Farmers faced delayed bailouts and planting-season uncertainty. Air-travel disruptions eased but posed continued risks for holiday travel. Individuals like Deairra Tracey remain fearful of future benefit interruptions and are stockpiling food and supplies to guard against repeated closures.
Read at The Atlantic
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]