Your Update on the Federal Shutdown & Progress in Olympia

This morning, the President announced a temporary end to the partial federal government shutdown. Congress and the President have agreed to a short-term deal, re-opening the government until February 15 while they continue to debate and negotiate funding for border security.

This is welcomed news for the 800,000 federal employees who have been furloughed or working without pay as today would have been a second missed paycheck. But make no mistake: damage has already been done. Low wage federal employees who couldn’t afford to miss even one paycheck are already choosing between food and other necessities. Small business owners that rely on federal contracts for work won’t see the pay for their work. The 1 in 8 Washingtonians that need SNAP to afford a basic food diet have received their February benefits early must now stretch their benefits for more than a month or longer, depending on whether a longer-term deal can be reached in time to provide March benefits on schedule. This is welcomed news but no reason to let up on urging Congress and the President to negotiate a long-term deal because if they don’t, we will find ourselves back in the turmoil of a shutdown in just three weeks.

Meanwhile, in our Washington, good work is getting done in Olympia as we end just the second week of the 2019 session. This week, Rep. Marcus Riccelli and Sen. Claire Wilson introduced legislation to expand access to fruits and vegetables for struggling people on SNAP and WIC. This legislation will sustain funding fruit and vegetable prescriptions for food-insecure patients and boost the purchasing power of SNAP when spent on produce at farmers markets and grocery stores. Legislation will also increase the WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program benefit for pregnant or nursing women, infants, and young children. Nutritious food is a catalyst to closing opportunity gaps for struggling households but is often unaffordable when low wages and limited incomes are stretched thin to cover basic necessities. This is a common-sense solution, helping to make fruits and vegetables more affordable for low-income households in every community in our state.

WHAT YOU CAN DO