Trump Is Missing One Massive Reason for Tuesday's Election Results

"Social media campaigns, nationwide reports of lengthy food-bank lines, state-government emergency declarations, and Jimmy Kimmel have all helped bring attention to the catastrophic cessation of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Access Program, historically referred to as food stamps. Administered by the Department of Agriculture, SNAP serves 42 million Americans via a monthly program that grants money to lower-income families in need of groceries and nutritional meals."

"Distributed primarily through a state-by-state debit card system (electronic benefit transfer, or EBT), it makes for the single largest anti-hunger program in the country, with a nearly $100 billion annual impact that reduces participants' food insecurity, improves their physical and mental health, and invigorates both local economies and big-box corporations. In a word, it is indispensable. As Northwestern University health economist Lindsay Allen told Slate's What Next: " SNAP is the safety net.""

""We are going to see the greatest hunger crisis since the Great Depression, and that's not hyperbole," Joel Berg, the CEO of Hunger Free America, told ABC News. "That's just true." For those enrolled in SNAP, the few hundred dollars they receive every month from the federal government isn't enough, but it is a lifeline and a much-needed boost-especially for children and younger adults."

The government shutdown caused a catastrophic cessation of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), abruptly disrupting food aid to 42 million Americans. SNAP, administered by the Department of Agriculture and delivered mainly via state EBT debit cards, supplies monthly funds to lower-income families for groceries. The program has nearly a $100 billion annual impact, reduces food insecurity, improves physical and mental health, and stimulates local and national economies. The stoppage produced long food-bank lines, state emergency declarations, and public alarm. Experts warn the shutdown could trigger the greatest hunger crisis since the Great Depression, with children and younger adults especially at risk.

Read at Slate Magazine