November food stamp benefits for 1.4 million North Carolinians will be delayed if the federal government shutdown continues, state officials said Monday.

Due to the federal government shutdown, which started Oct. 1 after Congress failed to pass a budget, the U.S. Department of Agriculture directed states to delay paying out November Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. October benefits are not affected by the directive, the state said. The USDA told states last week that it wouldn’t be using roughly $6 billion in federal contingency funds to keep the SNAP program running for November.

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As of Monday, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services hadn’t received federal funding for the program, which is run by the USDA and administered at

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