If the federal government doesn't reopen before February, millions of Americans could stop receiving their regularly-issued food stamps.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), is one of the agencies that isn't being funded during the partial government shutdown.
"Although SNAP is automatically renewed, it has not been allocated funding from Congress beyond January," CBS News reports. "Congress has appropriated $3 billion in emergency funds for SNAP distribution, but that would not cover all of February's obligations."
If the shutdown runs through March, SNAP funding will be delayed, CBS News reports.
In 2017, 42 million Americans received SNAP benefits, and more than two-thirds of them were in families with children, according to the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Meanwhile, other programs are in more pressing danger.
CBS News reports neither The Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations nor the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) are getting federal money while the government is partially closed.
People who benefit from SNAP or WIC could feel the impacts as early as February.
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