‘I feel guilty eating a meal’: Low-income families prepare to lose access to billions in federal aid

By Isabelle Khurshudyan, Tami Luhby, CNN

(CNN) — Annemarie King is eating only once a day, and her husband, Randall, is picking up extra shifts at the drywall factory where he works. They are among the nearly 42 million Americans preparing for their food stamp benefits to run dry in November because of the ongoing government shutdown.

The Kings, who live in Cincinnati and have eight young children, depend on the roughly $1,000 in food stamps that they receive at the start of every month to stock their refrigerator with fresh fruits, vegetables and meat.

But since the US Department of Agriculture announced in mid-October that it doesn’t have the funding to provide next month’s benefits during the government shutdown, Annemarie, a stay-at-home mother, has been buying more canned and boxed items and preparing less for dinner.

She’s also going without food herself. Her 11-year-old son has noticed, she said, but she tells him not to worry and that she ate while he was at school.

“I feel guilty eating a meal,” Annemarie said. “I don’t want to take food away from them.”

As the shutdown nears the one-month mark, it’s not just furloughed federal workers feeling the financial strain. Low-income households across the country will lose access to key social safety net programs in the coming days as billions of dollars in federal funding dries up.

Beginning November 1, more than 65,000 children and families could lose access to Head Start programs, which provide early education and child development resources, according to the National Head Start Association. For some parents, that means they might have to quit their jobs because they won’t have child care anymore.

Others are worried they might not get heat subsidies from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program before the winter months. On top of that, roughly 24 million Americans who receive health insurance through the Affordable Care Act are preparing for what is likely to be a significant increase in premiums next year.

In interviews with people in cities across the country, the early implications of the stop in federal funding for low-income families are starting to come into focus. Food banks and other charities are expecting higher demand, as millions face increasingly desperate situations without the programs they rely on.

At the Kings’ household, the loss of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, means that instead of serving chicken, a fresh vegetable and either mashed potatoes or macaroni and cheese, Annemarie has been cooking chicken and canned green beans. Chilis, pastas and roasts are on the menu more often since they can last for a few days.

“Our family is suffering because neither side will compromise,” Annemarie said of the stalemate on Capitol Hill. “It’s no longer a Democrat thing, it’s no longer a Republican thing. It’s our lives.”

The status of SNAP funding for November is currently uncertain, however. A federal judge in Boston indicated Thursday that she will intervene in a high-stakes fight between Democratic-led states and the Trump administration over its US Department of Agriculture’s decision to not tap into billions of dollars in emergency funds to provide benefits next month.

However the judge rules, millions of Americans will not receive their food stamp benefits on time. An estimated 4.4 million people will be affected on November 1 alone, according to estimates from Code for America, which works with all levels of government to improve access to food assistance and other safety net programs.

Food pantries around the country are preparing for a surge in demand next week if people don’t receive their SNAP stipends. But food bank directors have warned that they can provide only a fraction of the meals that are supplied by federal assistance.

And for some households, the loss of more than one of these programs has a compounding effect.

In Hillsboro, Ohio – about an hour outside Cincinnati – the closure of the local Head Start program means Lauren Lowe, 42, will likely have to quit her job as a restaurant server. She and her husband were able to both work full time while their 4-year-old son, Carter, attended Head Start on weekdays.

He and 176 other kids got meals and health care there. And he loved his friends and teachers, Lowe said. Since she’s had to tell him that this will be his last week in the program, Carter is “broken-hearted right now. He’s crying every single morning because he wants to be in school with his friends,” Lowe said.

Lowe is feeling uneasy, too. Quitting her job means less income for the household – in addition to missing their food stamp benefits.

“It’s really scary because, how do we make ends meet?” Lowe said. “I either stay home and school my child or figure out how we’re going to pay the bills to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table.”

Lowe will also have to replace the two meals Carter was getting every day he was at Head Start.

“On Monday mornings, kids do come in hungrier than usual, so we know they’re really dependent on that breakfast, lunch and snack we give them,” said Julia Wise, the executive director of the Highland County Community Action Organization, which runs the Hillsboro Head Start program.

Wise said 45 Head Start staff will be furloughed on Monday. Other Head Start programs — particularly those run by larger entities, such as nonprofits, school districts and local governments — can limp along by drawing on community support or taking out lines of credit.

In the Kansas City area, 17 programs with grants expiring on November 1 decided to take a “financial risk” by staying open, said Kasey Lawson, the Head Start director for the Mid-America Regional Council. The providers do not know if they will be reimbursed later when the new grant year is funded.

In Hillsboro, teachers prepared homework packets that will take the kids through the end of November, so they can keep studying even when the program is closed. Some of that staff will likely get other jobs before the government shutdown ends, meaning whenever Head Start does get funding again, it might not have enough educators to reopen all its classrooms, Wise said.

For those who can’t find other work, “they’re going on furlough, they’re not going to have money coming in, so they could apply for SNAP benefits, but now SNAP is not going to be available either,” Wise said.

“This is impacting us across the board,” she added.

In rural Oregon, where the temperatures are already dipping below the freezing mark, the suspension of funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, is putting lives at risk, said Sheri Gutierrez, energy program manager at Community Action Program of East Central Oregon, a nonprofit that provides a range of services for residents in need.

The $4 billion program, which helps nearly 6 million people pay their utility bills, is not in as immediate danger as SNAP and Head Start; the aid is typically distributed to utility companies between mid-November and early December.

But barely a month into the season, Community Action in Oregon already has more than $200,000 in grant payments that are on hold until the government reopens. Many of its clients heat their homes with propane, wood and heating oil, and they don’t enjoy the same continuous service and shutoff protections available to many people who use electricity and natural gas to stay warm.

The delay has worried local residents, some of whom are using old space heaters or their ovens, which Gutierrez says aren’t safe.

“We hear the desperation when speaking to these clients on a daily basis. People want reassurance that they will get assistance,” she said. “LIHEAP is lifesaving. Without heat, they won’t survive.”

In Lakeville, Minnesota, Ronda Beck is also waiting for help from LIHEAP to cover the electric bill. After speaking with her utility company “at great length,” Beck was told she could pay whatever she can until her grant is funded and she won’t be disconnected. But she’s not sure how she’ll scrape together a couple of bucks since she’s not working.

“Where do I get $5 from?” She said. “It’s a tough situation.”

Beck figured she could survive on groceries she picks up from her local food pantries if she and her adult son stop receiving food stamps next month – that is until she found out on Tuesday that one of the groups is only providing two or three days of food, instead two weeks’ worth. Now, she’s terrified.

“I don’t want to go hungry,” said Beck, who along with her son is looking for jobs in Lakeville, Minnesota, where they live. “I don’t want to walk into [a food pantry] and have them say, ‘We’re at our limit’.”

Just outside Washington DC, Willissa Bullock worries about her food bank running out, as it’s dealing with a surge in demand from furloughed federal workers in the area. When the Landover, Maryland, resident heard that the USDA would not issue benefits next month, Bullock says she cried – nervous about how she would provide for her kids, who are in college.

Earlier this week, Bullock left a local food pantry run by No Limits Outreach Ministries with only enough items – including lettuce, apple juice, and canned goods – to last two or three days. Until recently, her shopping cart would be overflowing.

“I’m telling the kids to look for jobs,” said Bullock, who is unemployed and applying for disability after having back surgery. “It’s the only way we’ll be able to eat.”

The food pantry has been receiving fewer shipments from Capital Area Food Bank after two Covid 19-era relief programs were canceled earlier this year. The pantry used to be able to offer meat, fish, eggs and milk to its clients, but now it mostly has beans, rice and canned foods, said Oliver Carter, pastor of No Limits Outreach Ministries.

“Our storage used to be full and now it’s almost empty,” Carter said.

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