On November 1, about 42 million people, including 16 million children, are set to lose their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, triggering what experts say could be the worst hunger crisis in the United States since the Great Depression. Due to the ongoing government shutdown , the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the program, says it does not have the funds to pay $8 billion in food aid next month.

On average, SNAP recipients get about $187 a month in benefits, which are often referred to as food stamps. About 39 percent of them are children, 20 percent are elderly, and 10 percent are non-elderly individuals with a disability, according to the most recent USDA data . Advocates are raising the alarm about how devastating a pause in benefi

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