How the Government Shutdown Will Crap All Over You

Hate the poor? Hate women? Triple star deluxe hate poor women? Then you're going to love this: the WIC program, which provides healthy food vouchers to low income pregnant women and new mothers, won't be able to continue nationally if the shutdown lasts a couple of weeks. And if the shutdown lasts through the end of the month, SNAP — FOOD STAMPS — will run out of funds at the federal level, according to Joan Entmacher, Vice President for Family Economic Security at the National Women's Law Center. Entmacher told me via phone that individual states can opt to keep the programs running in the event of an extended shutdown with the expectation that once the government's running again, they'll be reimbursed. But the longer Congress holds its breath, the murkier things get and the less clear it is where the money will come from to keep all these poor people not-dead. It's an exciting time.