WASHINGTON – The pain of a US government shutdown is about to intensify this week as the funding gap approaches a full month with no resolution in sight.
A series of deadlines in the coming days could have negative consequences for ordinary Americans, cutting off food assistance to low-income Americans, raising health insurance premiums for millions of people in Obamacare and depriving air traffic controllers, TSA agents and other federal workers of their paychecks.
Here are four ways the pain is about to hit Americans:
Food assistance will be cut
SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps, are scheduled to run out Nov. 1 without congressional action, affecting about 40 million low-income Americans in red and blue states.
New York, Texas and Florida are each home to about 3 million SNAP recipients, according to KFF, a nonpartisan research group.
“This is the biggest pressure point we’ve seen in 28 days,” said Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville, whose state of Alabama has about 750,000 SNAP recipients. “I think the Democrats are getting a little strict right now. It’s their constituents – a lot of them – in some of these inner cities who are going to need SNAP to survive… And they’re getting a lot of calls.”
“A lot of people need to get back to work; a lot of young people who receive SNAP should be working,” Tuberville added.
We would like to hear from you how you are experiencing the government shutdown, whether you are a federal employee who is unable to work at this time, a person who relies on federal benefits like SNAP, or someone who is feeling the effects of other closed services in your daily life. Please contact us at tips@nbcuni.com or contact us here.
Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., chairman of the Agriculture Committee that oversees SNAP, said millions of American families will be harmed if the government does not reopen by Nov. 1.
“It’s going to make their lives more difficult. And, you know, the bottom line is we need to stop holding these people hostage,” said Boozman, co-chair of the Hunger Caucus. “We have a clean CR. Senator Schumer needs to open the government; that is the solution to the problem.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., however, scoffed at the suggestion that SNAP benefits are a partisan pressure point.
“Will hungry children put pressure on members of Congress? Well, that’s a good moral position,” he said, while emphasizing that the Department of Agriculture has a “$5 billion emergency fund set aside for exactly this purpose” and arguing that it is obligated to use it to preserve SNAP benefits.
Democratic leaders from 25 states and the District of Columbia sued the USDA on Tuesday, arguing just that. They asked a federal judge to force the USDA to maintain SNAP as long as it has contingency funds. Some states are also tapping into their own emergency funds to support SNAP during the shutdown.
Aside from SNAP, it is unknown whether the Trump administration will be able to find alternative funding for a critical nutrition program for women, infants and children (WIC), after Trump this month tapped $300 million in tariff revenue to keep WIC running.
And starting Nov. 1, Head Start (and the thousands of preschoolers who depend on it) may be in limbo as money runs out for the popular program that offers free learning, health screenings and meals to young children from low-income families.
Rising healthcare costs
Open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, begins Nov. 1, a month before subsidies that have helped keep premium costs down expire. Insurers have set higher rates for 2026 in case those subsidies are not renewed, and some Americans will see their premiums double or triple by next year.
If Congress acts soon to extend the money, it will be difficult to reverse the impact of the stickers on enrollees, but insurers can find ways to reduce bills for them next year. Still, the parties do not appear to be close to a resolution.
The central Democratic demand during the shutdown battle has been to expand those funds, which cost about $35 billion a year, and to limit insurance premiums for the “benchmark” plans on the ACA exchanges to 8.5% of an enrollee’s income.
Many Republicans say the money, which was initially approved in 2021 as part of Covid pandemic relief, should expire.
Democrats remind them that many of their constituents in red states would face skyrocketing premiums if the tax credits end.
“The majority of the benefits will go to people who live in the states that Trump won,” said Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J. “I’m not thinking about this in terms of blue or red voters; I’m just trying to help as many people as possible. The Trump administration has shown deep disdain, even for the people who voted for them.”
Kim said the White House is treating programs like ACA and SNAP as “a political chip” rather than a lifeline for Americans.
There are also concerns that some people will become uninsured rather than pay higher premiums, which will put further strain on the American health care system.
Air traffic controllers and TSA agents lose their full salaries
Federal workers are laid off or forced to work without pay for the duration of the shutdown. Tuesday marked the first time during this shutdown that certain “exempt” workers, such as TSA agents and air traffic controllers tasked with keeping the skies safe, lost their full pay.
Previously, they had received partial paychecks, but this time their payslips showed $0.00.
“I’m very concerned about air traffic controllers,” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee that drafts federal funding bills. “I had two flights this Sunday and last Sunday avoided at the last second. One of them landed and then took off. And in all the years I’ve served in the Senate, I’ve never had that happen to me.”
The longest government shutdown in U.S. history, which lasted 34 days in late 2018 and early 2019, ended after air traffic controllers and TSA agents began calling in sick, severely threatening air travel. One of the biggest tourist holidays of the year, Thanksgiving, is approaching in just a few weeks.
Even fiscal conservatives who have fought to cut public spending argued that not paying air traffic controllers could have dangerous consequences when it comes to public safety.
“I fly twice a week. I want my air traffic controller to be happy, well fed, not anxious or nervous,” said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the only Republican to vote against the GOP bill to reopen the government. “So I’m in favor of paying our soldiers, our air traffic controllers, our employees – anyone who is working should be paid.”
Troop pay is changing
Two weeks ago, the White House alleviated a major shutdown problem by transferring money to ensure that active-duty military troops did not miss out on pay. Trump ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to find the money to pay the troops; The Pentagon reallocated billions of dollars from research and development programs to service members’ salaries.
On top of that, a private donor, whom The New York Times later identified as billionaire Timothy Mellon, contributed $130 million to help pay for the troops. But that’s a drop in the bucket compared to the roughly $6.5 billion the Pentagon needs to fund Friday’s paychecks.
The Trump administration is now desperately looking for other funding sources to tap into.
Vice President JD Vance told reporters on Capitol Hill on Tuesday that the White House has figured out a way to pay members of the military later this week. But there is no guarantee. And what will happen next month is unclear.
“We think we can continue paying the troops on Friday,” Vance said after meeting with Senate Republicans over lunch.
Sen. Kevin Cramer, R.N.D., a member of the Armed Services Committee, said not being able to pay troops would be “horrible” and noted that the administration is finding it increasingly difficult to identify other sources of money.
“They can only do it for so long before they run out of funds,” Cramer said Tuesday. “I think the White House is doing everything they should be doing and they should insist that Democrats press the easy button and vote to reopen the government.”
