Effects of the pause will be especially widespread in Texas, which has the highest population of food insecure people in the country.

As the federal government shutdown continues, food banks across East Texas are ramping up emergency response efforts to support families who have missed paychecks and are impacted by a potential disruption in SNAP benefits.

Texas, offered a pointed analogy Wednesday when asked about Democrats blaming President Donald Trump for the impending cutoff of federal nutrition assistance due to the government shutdown. Cornyn compared Democrats to the proverbial kid who murders his parents,

David Macpherson, Ph.D., the Economics Department chair at Trinity University, said the loss of SNAP benefits spending will be felt by the Texas economy.

The ongoing shutdown means more than $600M per month won’t go to millions of Texas SNAP beneficiaries who pump that money into the state economy.

"We're trying to pinch every penny that we can," said Gina Hernandez. "And the best way to do that is to help each other out."

As the government shutdown continues, hundreds of thousands of Central Texans will soon lose their SNAP benefits.

The potential SNAP benefit delay could increase growing hunger crisis in Texas, a state which has the highest population of food insecure people in the U.S.