AIR TRAVEL HIT
WIC – the food aid program for pregnant women, new mothers and infants – is also on the brink, while “Head Start” programs that provide nutrition and family support to 65,000 infants could begin shuttering from Saturday.
With uncertainty over food stamps giving Americans heartburn, communities have begun banding together to help vulnerable neighbours.
Kerry Chausmer, 55, from Bethesda in Maryland, said she was buying groceries for two local families in need – at a personal cost likely to total at least US$200.
“I think that you can judge a culture by how they help the people that need it most … We’re failing, and I am honestly despondent and embarrassed to be an American,” she told AFP.
The administration says it has scraped together enough money to cover Friday’s payday for active-duty troops, but acknowledges that they could go unpaid by mid-November.
And US air travel was beginning to suffer badly, with New York area airports John F Kennedy, Newark Liberty and LaGuardia all under restrictions due in part to reduced staffing at control towers.
A ground stop was in effect at JFK until mid-afternoon, with delays clocking in at 60 to 100 minutes. Delays above three hours were expected at Newark, while some passengers were bracing to be held up by as much as five hours at LaGuardia.
Trump, whose shadow hangs over every Republican move, has largely stayed out of the shutdown fight, although lawmakers on both sides hope he’ll swoop in to broker a deal on the health care subsidies.
He repeated his pledge to sit down with Democrats over their demands – but only after the shutdown is over.
“We’ll meet very quickly, but they have to open up the country,” he told reporters. “It’s their fault. Everything is their fault. It’s so easily solved.”
Source: CNA
