Sabrina Rubich shopped for milk, bananas and other basics this week at an Albertson's grocery store in Missoula, Mont., with her nine-month-old son, Kenny. When she got to the checkstand she paid for some of her groceries with money from the USDA's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP鈥攚hich is issuing its February payments early.
Rubich is one of about 39 million people who are now spending their SNAP payments not knowing when the next one will come due to the federal government shutdown.
When she first heard SNAP benefits were coming two weeks early and would have to last until at least the end of next month, Rubich thought, "no they can't be doing that."
Then she got a text about it.
"And sure enough, checked my balance on the app and was like, 'Oh my god. This is real.'"