This is Brian Lair's Daily Politics Podcasts from WNYC Studios.

It's Friday, November 7th.

I'm Bridget Bergen, senior reporter in the WNYC and Gothamist Newsroom.

Filling in for Brian today, we made it to Friday.

It is day 38 of a government shutdown. As you've been hearing this morning, the FAA is reducing

flights at airports across the country and in this region. And this week was the first week.

Millions of Americans who rely on food assistance benefits went without them.

For the first time in more than six decades, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP has stopped issuing payments, meaning more and more Americans, are going hungry.

But my next guest suggests this devastating moment for millions of Americans

may in fact be what forces the hand of lawmakers. The article in the Atlantic is headline,

this could be how the shutdown ends. And it's by my guest, Tolu Olorunipa. Tolu, welcome back to WNYC.

Thanks so much for having me. Let's give some context to these

snap cuts. How many Americans rely on food assistance? So about 42 million Americans. It's about one

in every eight Americans rely on this program. It's the largest anti-hunger program in the country. And

it's something that really helps people make ends meet. Even people who work, who just don't have

enough from their jobs to be able to pay for their family's food, they rely on SNAP. And so this is a

major program and the fact that it was shut down and basically went dark for the first time in its 61-year history.

Really put a lot of people into dire straits.

And it's been a week since people have not gotten their benefits, which we're supposed to go out on November 1st.

So we are starting to see the ramifications of what that

means for families, for children, for seniors. And it's a pretty significant impact. I've talked to

a lot of people who are fearful that unless they go to a food bank or unless they get some help

...