OLD TOWN -- Thousands of Mainers won’t be receiving their SNAP benefits next month due to the federal government shutdown.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service has notified every state that November funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the nation’s largest anti-hunger program, will not be issued.

"We can't issue November until we get new guidance or the shutdown ends, there's really nothing that people can do until we get that," said Ian Yaffe, Director of the Office for Family Independence, Maine DHHS.

Nationwide, approximately 42 million people receive SNAP benefits, including more than 160 thousand in Maine.

"This is a really urgent challenge, for over 100 thousand Maine people, these benefits mean the ability to put food on

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