RICHMOND, Va. — On a typical Wednesday in Richmond, as Lynette Hicks runs through her checklist of errands for the day, she would prefer not to be thinking about how a government shutdown may impact her quality of life.
"This is stressful for people," she said. “A lot of people are going to feel this, and it's not going to be good.”
She's one of the tens of millions of Americans who rely on the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for monthly food benefits.
Losing them, she said, would be awful.
"Without them, my cupboards would be bare. I would be looking at the back of my refrigerator, and I would have to scramble to come up with nutritious meals for us," she said.
Kenda Sutton-El, who runs the maternal health organization Birth in Color, said she's worried for what a shutdown could mean for families who rely on the federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) which provides food, breastfeeding support, and other resources to low-income families.
“We’ve actually gotten a lot of calls, a lot of conversation about, how does this affect us? What do we need to do? Do we need to be stocking up our pantries?” Sutton-El said. “What will happen to those clients who need WIC for nutritional guidance, or because they don't have enough food in their home? Those are things that we have to be looking at.”
For SNAP recipients, the Virginia Department of Social Services said October benefits will be dispersed as expected. The federal government has instructed state agencies "to proceed with regular benefit issuance and confirms that SNAP operations will proceed as usual, except for the SNAP-ED and Employment & Training program," according to an agency spokesperson.
The Food Research and Action Center said November SNAP benefits could possibly be delayed or entirely interrupted if a shutdown persists for several weeks.
For WIC recipients, the National WIC Association said current funding levels will only allow services to continue for about one to two weeks.
The federal government's contingency plan states both the SNAP and WIC programs will operate "subject to the availability of funding."
Both programs are state-administered, and Governor Glenn Youngkin said Wednesday that "essential social services will be continued" in Virginia; however, there's more uncertainty surrounding the WIC program.
"There may be some interruptions to the WIC benefits, but we’re working through that today. But Medicaid and SNAP benefits will continue and of course the work going on in our social services continues to go on," Youngkin said.
But for some people, there shouldn't even be a question as to whether that work will go on.
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“The government should never shut down. I mean, we pay taxes. That money is to keep the government running," Hicks said.
Hicks and Sutton-El are now calling on Congressional leaders to fix the problem they created and reminding Virginians of the power of their vote.
“It shouldn't be that hard to say, 'Oh, let's do this and come to a middle agreement, to a compromise,' and realize that your decision affects so many other people," Hicks said.
“Put your dislikes for one another aside, put your titles aside, and focus on how we can make sure that our families are protected, that our families are fed, because everything is going to impact every system, just by one thing happening," Sutton-El said.
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