all Eigendreh

Lower thirds:

00:02 Report by  Ines Pohl
00:08 Mary | 'SNAP' benefits recipient
01:27 Sophia Lenarz-Coy | Executive Director, 'The Food Group'
02:12 Valentina | 'SNAP' benefits recipient
02:48 Tina Smith (Democrat) | US Senator from Minnesota
03:22 Mary | 'SNAP' benefits recipient

Script:

For millions of Americans, this card means food on the table, but the system has stopped working.
00:00:07:04
+++ Mary, SNAP participant:
It's like my lifeline, honestly. Because I want to make sure that I'm feeding my child the appropriate foods, as well as myself.+++
00:00:16:14
An app on Mary’s phone shows how much money she has on her card. Since President Trump shut down SNAP, she hasn’t received any money this month.
00:00:25:02
Ines Pohl: So you have nothing on there?
00:00:27:24
+++ Mary, SNAP participant:
No. My last purchase was on the 31st for $2.26. I try not to dwell too much on the numbers I see because I know I still have to provide.
But it’s definitely a gut punch when I look and see no balance, no amount, no prediction on there.+++
00:00:51:21
Graphic, voice over:
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, helps more than 430,000 people here in the state of Minnesota. Nationwide, 41 million Americans depend on it.
00:01:03:06
Ines Pohl: SNAP participants get $6.30 a day in Minnesota. I want to find out what one can buy for that in a local supermarket.
00:01:13:05
So, that’s what you can get for six dollars.
00:01:18:15
Without SNAP benefits, more and more people rely on food banks.
00:01:24:06
+++ Sophia Lenarz-Coy, Executive Director at The Food Group:
This is a place that provides free food. They rely on donations and source from groups like ours at The Food Group to stock the shelves, and then folks usually come about once a month.
Up until now, we would have said that SNAP is an entitlement program, and even during past government shutdowns, it usually ran uninterrupted. However, this example of benefits being suspended and now only partially available shows that there is a precariousness to the SNAP program that we haven’t felt before in the United States. +++
00:01:57:24
Valentina moved to the US from Moldova two years ago with her husband and five children. One daughter is autistic and has Jackson Syndrome. Her husband makes $4,000 a month, which is not enough to get by without SNAP.
00:02:11:20
+++ Valentina: I have one question. My mom says that TV in Moldova reports that the food shelves in the US will be closed. Is this true?+++
00:02:25:23
+++ Ines: The food shelves? No, they will not be closed. +++
00:02:30:05
+++ Valentina: OK, because if the food shelves close, it will be very bad.
00:02:39:19
VO: I asked US Senator Tina Smith from Minnesota, at the Capitol in Washington, about a possible end to the shutdown.
00:02:47:11
+++ US Senator Tina Smith (D-MN):
There are lots of countervailing forces, and it really comes down to President Trump because, for the most part, Republicans in Congress do what Trump tells them to do. If he tells them to negotiate and find a deal, they will do that. If he tells them to hold out on the broader issue of lowering health care costs, then they will hold out and not negotiate. It really comes down to him.

((00:03:12:08
+++ Donald Trump:
If they vote to open up the country immediately we don't even need to think about that.))

00:03:18:03
VO: No one knows how long it will take for Washington to end the shutdown. How do people like Mary get by?
00:03:25:10
+++ Mary, SNAP participant:
I’ve had some really nice people in my area who helped pitch in to get us a couple of food items to try to get us through a little.+++
00:03:32:10
As Americans can’t rely on the government these days, they have to rely on one another.

DIGIVN: 
00:03:12:08  tag:reuters.com,2025:newsml_RW883402112025RP1:4
As Americans can’t rely on the government these days, they have to rely on one another.+++