The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — more commonly known as SNAP, or food stamps — is a key benefits program that serves more than 40 million people across the country. Now, the shutdown is threatening to suspend benefits, raising concerns over where millions of people who rely on the program will turn to for food.

Gov. Mike DeWine signed an executive order to give $7 million to Ohio food banks and $18 million to low-income families.

But Republicans blocked the maneuver by arguing that Democrats should join them in reopening the entire government.Start the day smarter. Get all the news you need in your inbox each morning.

“If SNAP benefits are not distributed in November, the effects will be felt immediately,” said Maria Raha of Philabundace, the city’s largest food bank. “This will leave over 800,000 people in our region without access to the food they need — including mostly families, children, seniors, and people with disabilities."

A federal judge in Boston has indicated that she may intervene and require the federal government to fund the SNAP food assistance program in some way.

Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna has called on Speaker Mike Johnson to reopen the House of Representatives to vote on a bill aimed at funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), as millions of Americans face potential interruptions in benefits amid the ongoing government shutdown.

Everything’s just hard financially,” John Canham said of the pause in SNAP benefits slated for Nov. 1. “It just seems to be going downhill.”

A handful of states rolled out plans to use their own funds to provide benefits as the SNAP federal food aid program runs dry