Governor Kay Ivey announced she is releasing $2 million dollars in state emergency funds to shore up towards eight food banks. The move follows the federal cut off of funding for the SNAP food assistance program on November first. The Trump White House followed up by pledging to use USDA contingency dollars to provide partial funding for the program also known as Food Stamps. The website USA Facts says over 700,000 Alabamians use SNAP benefits to afford groceries.
The food relief organizations included in the governor’s pledge of assistance include Community Food Bank of Central Alabama, Food Bank of East Alabama, Food Bank of North Alabama, Feeding the Gulf Coast, Heart of Alabama Food Bank, Selma Area Food Bank, West Alabama Food Bank and the Wiregrass Area Food Bank. Jean Rykaczewski is CEO of the West Alabama Food Bank whch is also a recipeint. She says people starting to ask for emegrency help last week before the SNAP money was cut off.
“So usually, we have probably a standard of five to six people that walk in here that they just don't know,” said Rykaczewski. “They usually come here because they don't know where else to go first, and then we give them a list of other places to go to last week on one day, we had about 19 and 23 on the other day. So, you know, last week was a little bit busier. The week before was a little bit busier, but on an average, we usually see, you know, anywhere between three to five people a day normally.”
Signs of a potential end to the government shutdown intensified Tuesday with behind-the-scenes talks, as the federal closure was on track to become the longest ever disrupting the lives of millions of Americans.
Senators from both parties, Republicans and Democrats, are quietly negotiating the contours of an emerging deal. With a nod from their leadership, the senators seek a way to reopen the government, put the normal federal funding process back on track and devise some sort of resolution to the crisis of expiring health insurance subsidies that are spiking premium costs from coast to coast.
“Enough is enough,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, the South Dakota Republican, as he opened the deadlocked chamber.
On day 35 of the federal government shutdown, the record for the longest will be broken after midnight. With SNAP benefits interrupted for millions of Americans depending on federal food aid, hundreds of thousands of federal employees furloughed or working without pay and contracts being delayed, many on and off Capitol Hill say it's time for it to end. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted there could be chaos in the skies next week if the shutdown drags on and air traffic controllers miss another paycheck. Labor unions put pressure on lawmakers to reopen the government.
