Democrats, Beware: The Shutdown Pain Is About to Get Real

On the menu today: This is the 28th day of the federal government shutdown; the longest government shutdown in U.S. history was 35 days in 2018 and 2019. As yesterday’s newsletter noted, flight delays at airports are stacking up, and on Monday the largest federal employee union urged Democrats to agree to a continuing resolution to reopen the government. On November 1, none of the roughly 42 million Americans who get food stamps that arrive every month on their electronic benefit transfer cards will get that aid. (Whether or not you think all 42 million Americans receiving food stamps need them, some inevitably do; to qualify, a person must have gross income below 130 percent of the federal poverty level. More on federal poverty levels below.)