Indianapolis resident Carol Lambert only has condiments left in the fridge.

After a career waiting tables, Lambert, 63, lives off her $1,000 monthly disability check. Rent costs $750. Utilities typically eat the rest. That means she's entirely reliant on her $142 monthly allotment of federal food stamps for her food budget, though it typically only lasts two weeks.

"So not having SNAP, I'm left with nothing," Lambert said, using the acronym for the Supplemental Food Nutritional Program that's been ensnared by the ongoing federal government shutdown. "I'm afraid."

The delay has already harmed Hoosiers like Lambert even though an end appears to be in sight.

"It is an anxiety level that I don't - can't - come down off of because of the government being shut down," Lambert said. "I'm const

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