Food Banks Brace for Uptick in Need Amid Continuing Shutdown

As the federal government remains closed, with no end to the funding impasse in sight, food banks and community groups say they're bracing for a surge in need, including from people who don't ordinarily rely on them.

Food banks across the country have already seen an increase in visits from government employees who are working without pay or have been furloughed. With funding for food benefit programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) set to expire at the end of the month, they are now reportedly preparing to assist Americans who rely on these federal programs.

"When food banks serve families, it's usually a 1-to-9 ratio, so one meal provided by food banks versus nine provided by SNAP dollars. If those SNAP dollars get cut in half, that would mean that a local food bank quadruples their output just to meet that need," Craig Rice, CEO of Manna Food Center in Maryland, told NBC Washington.

Rice's organization provides assistance to a sizable share of the federal workforce population and the shutdown, now entering its fourth week, has forced it to bring in additional resources to meet the spike in need.

"We're going to be adding emergency bags so federal government employees will be able to come and ask for emergency assistance, and we'll be able to assist them," he said.

Under a 2019 law, government workers will be reimbursed for missed pay at the end of the shutdown, but Congress has made little progress on reopening the government amid partisan gridlock, leaving federal employees in limbo as to when they'll receive their next paycheck.

The Clark County Aviation Department in Nevada has issued a public appeal for help, asking for donations of basic essentials that its employees, who are working without pay, will soon need to make it day to day.

"We're gonna be opening it up for our federal employees to come get the essentials that they need. Nonperishable food items, we're accepting gift cards for retail, for gas, for grocery stores, baby supplies, all the things that they need to help get them by during this government shutdown," Luke Nimmo, the department's public information officer, told NBC affiliate KSNV of Las Vegas.

But help for government workers could be on the horizon.

During a Wednesday morning appearance on Newsmax's "Wake Up America," Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., called on his Democrat colleagues to support legislation that would pay for "excepted" federal employees who continue to work through the shutdown.

The Shutdown Fairness Act has gained support from the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, which Johnson described as "huge" because "this is an association that generally does not support Republicans or Republican positions, but they're coming out and saying, okay, if you guys are going to keep government closed, at a minimum, go ahead and pay the people that you're forcing to work — federal employees."

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