To me, one of the most annoying things about the current government shutdown is that Congress is getting paid while Americans go without. Admittedly, there are some serious scammers on various government programs, but there are also people who genuinely need help to pay their bills, have a place to live, and eat. North Carolina has a part of its budget process that I truly admire–if a new budget is not passed, the old budget remains. The state government is never at risk for a shutdown.

On Sunday, Breitbart reported:

As temperatures begin to drop around the U.S., Democrat lawmakers’ refusal to fund the government may impact the ability of some Americans to heat their homes.                

Jacqueline Chapman, a retired school aide who relies on a $630 monthly Social Security check to get by, presents the real-world example of someone impacted by the shutdown on pace to be the longest in U.S. history.

Chapman told Boston’s WCBB5 that she was already dealing with the loss of her food stamp, or SNAP, benefits when she learned the assistance she receives for heating her Philadelphia apartment may also be at risk.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits that aid some 42 million Americans have also been delayed, although a federal judge in Rhode Island on Friday ordered the Trump administration to at least partially fund the program with money held in reserve.

“I feel like I’m living in scary time,” the 74-year-old senior told the news outlet. “It’s not easy to rest when you know you have things to do with limited accounts, limited funds. There isn’t too much you can do.”

Let’s clean up the fraud in the American ‘safety net’ and make sure help goes to the people who need it.