On this edition of Your Call, we're discussing the fallout from the government shutdown, which is now on day 30.
Millions of people are struggling to make ends meet as SNAP benefits are scheduled to expire on Saturday, November 1, and healthcare premiums are set to double or in some cases, triple. Funds that help people pay their heating bills and send their children to Head Start will also expire on Saturday. Democrats are refusing to budge until Republicans agree to extend tax credits for healthcare premiums.
The city of San Francisco will cover SNAP payments for the month of November, but as the San Francisco Chronicle reports, the rest of the Bay Area is panicking.
Guests:
Paul Boden, executive director of the Western Regional Advocacy Project, founding member of Street Sheet, former executive director of the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness, and author of House Keys Not Handcuffs
Andrew Cheyne, managing director of public policy for End Child Poverty CA
Lindsay Allen, assistant professor of emergency medicine and health economist and policy researcher at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine
Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association
Resources:
The Mercury News: Which restaurants will give free meals because of SNAP cutoff
KQED: How to Find a Food Bank or Pantry Near You in the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Chronicle: S.F. will cover SNAP recipients’ missed payments. But the rest of the Bay Area is panicking
San Francisco Chronicle: California leads the nation in this poverty measure — and S.F.’s is even higher
The American Prospect: Trump Is Illegally Withholding Food From Needy Families
Time: Millions at Risk as Government Shutdown Freezes Funds for a Critical Heating Program
STAT: When SNAP benefits run out, ‘people can die,’ say health experts
The New York Times: Hunger and Cold Loom as Shutdown Imperils Funding for Antipoverty Programs
