15% of Newport Households Face Disruption to Food Assistance Program

by Joseph Hutnak and Olga Enger

While the local focus of the government shutdown has been on furloughs, after 800 Navy civilian employees were sent home Tuesday, another impact threatens to hit home if a resolution isn't found soon.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides support for some 2,069 Newport households, or 15 percent of the population, could be curtailed if the shutdown lasts more than three weeks, Frederick Sneesby, spokesman for the state Department of Human Services said this week.

Other local impacts are the to the Naval War College museum and Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge in Middletown, which will be closed for the duration of the shutdown.

SNAP offers help for families with household incomes up to 185 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $3,012 per month for a family of three.

The shutdown had already made an impact on the program by Oct. 2 — the web page for the USDA, which administers the program, had a message that read: "Due to the lapse in federal government funding, this website is not available."

Congressional officials hinted that the shutdown may last for weeks if House Republicans continue to insist on including anti-Affordable Care Act language in a government funding bill — which Democratic lawmakers have repeatedly rejected — according to the Huffington Post.