Gov. Andy Beshear is sending the National Guard to staff food banks as about 600,000 Kentuckians experience delays in SNAP benefits from the federal government.

"What this means is that every dollar we're providing to food banks can go toward purchasing food and we can provide the extra staffing that's needed as they see a surge in families coming in," Beshear said Wednesday during his weekly Team Kentucky briefing.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says it will begin processing SNAP payments Thursday, which will only be half of what recipients typically receive each month. How soon those benefits will arrive is also unknown.

"The president has both funding and the authority to fund SNAP during a shutdown. In fact, every other president in every other shutdown has done so," Beshear sai

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