With federal SNAP food assistance set to run dry this weekend amid the protracted U.S. government shutdown, Louisiana, New Mexico and Vermont became the latest states Wednesday to announce help for low-income households that rely on the funds to eat.

They join states from New York to Nevada in scrambling to find ways to get food to people who are increasingly anxious and will otherwise go hungry without their normal monthly payments from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

In Louisiana, where nearly one in five residents receive SNAP benefits, lawmakers authorized $150 million in state funding Wednesday to help avoid Saturday's expected interruption. Republican Gov. Jeff Landry backed a bipartisan measure to allow most of the state’s nearly 800,000 SNAP recipients to

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