Gov. Kay Ivey announced Tuesday that she will release $2 million of the state’s emergency funds to support food banks as Alabamians who receive federal food assistance miss their first benefit payments this week.

The governor’s announcement is a reversal from her earlier comments that the state would not step in to help support the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, while the federal government is shut down.

The $2 million will go toward eight food banks in Alabama, which serve all of the state’s 67 counties.

“There are real Alabama families who rely on SNAP to put food on their tables, and that includes more than 300,000 children, more than 102,000 seniors and those who are disabled,” Ivey said in a statement.

“We are now in the longest federal government shutdown i

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