Mississippi’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is being paused because of the federal government shutdown, the Mississippi Department of Human Services said Friday.

“No new SNAP benefits will be issued for November unless federal guidance changes,” the department said in a press release.

This move comes more than three weeks into the federal shutdown, after the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it would not tap into its $6 billion contingency fund to cover food assistance next month.

Nearly 400,000 Mississippians receive food assistance through SNAP, and the vast majority are families with children or elderly people. That is about 13% of the population, slightly higher than the 12% nationwide who use SNAP to help buy groceries.

The Associated Press reported that officials in

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