Uncle Sam's hunger pangs

IN THE first week of November, thousands in the US were out seeking food-from hotel leftovers to food bank supplies and even donations from near and dear ones.

- 

Millions lived in anxiety, thinking of imminent hunger spells in the immediate future. A local newspaper reported a single mother's plight: "I will get hunger pains at some point, but I just ignore them. I just tell myself I'm on a fast."

By the time this magazine goes to print, the US government remains under its longest ever shutdown. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, earlier known as food stamps), the country's most consequential food security net since the 1930s, does not have enough money to disburse resources. As a result, cash benefits could not be transferred to 40 million SNAP beneficiaries in November. On November 6, a federal judge ordered the federal government to fully transfer the benefit irrespective of the budgetary constraints.

The food stamp programme was never stopped during earlier government shutdowns.