DENVER — Gov. Polis on Wednesday announced he is requesting millions of dollars in emergency funds to help food banks feed Coloradans who rely on SNAP benefits after state officials said those benefits would not come in November due to the government shutdown.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) helps low-income families purchase food and feeds about 600,000 Coloradans each month, half of whom are children. Since last week, however, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) had been warning that those funds would dry up if the federal shutdown stretched into the November.

Seeing the writing on the wall, the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) announced Tuesday it would pause payments to recipients’ EBT cards next month, and encouraged Coloradans who rely

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