The House is expected to vote and pass a bill to re-open the government this week.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — With the potential end of the government shutdown, federal workers are preparing to receive full paychecks again, and people relying on SNAP benefits are expected to get their full funds.
Sacramento County officials said CalFresh payments for this month have been sorted out, but December benefits aren’t guaranteed if the government remains closed.
“As of Monday morning, everyone on CalFresh or SNAP got their full benefits,” said Janna Haynes with Sacramento County. She said that despite the back and forth in federal courts, those who received their funds should expect to keep them.
“Once funds went onto someone’s EBT card, they could not be pulled back,” Haynes said. “And so that is our expectation.”
County officials said next month’s funds are still uncertain. If the government does reopen, they expect lingering effects from the extended shutdown.
“That creates a huge problem in households,” Haynes said. “We’re making sure food banks are ready to continue serving those people, and there’s a natural influx of people going to food banks leading up to the holidays.”
At Sacramento International Airport, TSA employees said going weeks without pay has made it difficult to return to a normal workflow or make ends meet.
“It’s going to make it a lot more difficult for you to do your job,” said James Mudrock with AFE Local 1230.
The federal government has promised full back pay to employees impacted by the shutdown, but workers said they’ll believe it when they see it. Still, Mudrock said they’re determined to keep operations running smoothly for travelers.
“Hopefully this will relieve their stress and get them working at 100% efficiency,” Mudrock said. “It might take a little bit of time, but our people are pretty resilient. We’ll bounce back pretty quickly.”
If the House votes to reopen the government this week, funding would last only until January — but SNAP benefits would be extended for an extra year.
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