Americans facing hunger as government shutdown enters second month

The U.S. government shutdown barreled towards its second month on Friday, and the pain is spreading fast -- with federal workers broke, food aid vanishing, and millions of Americans caught in the crossfire.

What started on October 1 as a Washington sideshow has morphed into a slow-motion implosion of public services and a growing economic convulsion, with federal offices dark and President Donald Trump's government stuck in neutral.

Republicans have warned that millions will begin feeling the full force of the shutdown for the first time this weekend, as unresolved fights over funding for health care and food stamps make them hungrier and poorer.

"Most people haven't noticed until this week. Thanks to Donald Trump finding a way to pay our troops last month, that pain was delayed," Republican House Whip Tom Emmer told Fox News. "But, starting this week... this is starting to become very real."

At the heart of the fight is money to help Americans cover health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.

Those subsidies -- a lifeline for more than 20 million people -- are set to expire at year's end and, unless Congress acts, premiums will skyrocket when the new sign-up period opens Saturday.

But Washington's warring parties are locked in a familiar, bitter loop, as Democrats refuse to reopen the government without a deal to extend the subsidies and with Trump's Republicans saying they won't talk until the lights are back on.

As Washington bickers, the shutdown's fallout is rippling through everyday life and starting to pinch where it really hurts -- the dinner table.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which helps 42 million low-income Americans buy groceries, is set to run out of funds this weekend.

Democrats have been pushing the White House to use $5 billion in emergency cash to cover food stamps, but the administration says it cannot legally tap that fund.

AFP