The recent partial government shutdown could have been a disaster for the 38 million Americans who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps.

But the United States Department of Agriculture, which runs SNAP, saved the day. Along with their usual January benefits, SNAP’s users received an extra payment on Jan. 20 — the one they were supposed to get in February.

This outcome was a product of heroic bureaucratic wrangling on the part of the Agriculture Department and the states, which administer SNAP. It saved millions of people from a month of severe hunger.

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