This morning's business news includes food stamps, interest rates, and rent freezes.

I'm David Brancaccio in Los Angeles. It's now 30 days of government shutdown. It is now likely that most of the 42 million people on food stamps or SNAP will not get their November benefits starting this weekend. I say most with some states trying to find ways to fill the gap.

When or if the government reopens, the delayed money would come. Now, we've been reporting on how

this hits vulnerable families and food banks nationwide, which are already coping with a spike in

demand. As Marketplaces Samantha Fields reports here, the abrupt loss of SNAP dollars will also hurt stores that accept food stamps, actually EBT cards in practice.

Every month, the federal government spends about $8 billion on SNAP benefits.

The millions of people who get those benefits then spend them at businesses, often in their communities.

This is a really important invisible piece of the economy.

Lily Roberts at the Center for American Progress says it's not just people who qualify for those

benefits who rely on them.

There are stores in neighborhoods that have more than 50% of their sales from SNAP.

Those are stores that are typically in lower income areas or that are

in rural areas. If benefits just stop, Stephanie Johnson at the National Grocers Association

says it will be a big deal for those stores, especially small independent ones.

Grocer staffing and inventory are planned around SNAP benefits. So a lapse could lead to reduced employee hours,

losses, and perishable food items, and declining sales. She says SNAP supports nearly 400,000 jobs

in the U.S., and helps generate about 20 billion in wages and over $4 billion in taxes.

Elaine Waxman at the Urban Institute says it acts as a form of stimulus, especially during

economic slowdowns.

We sometimes talk about SNAP as if it's a cost and a drain on the economy, but it's

actually an important component of the way that we not only assure that people can have enough food to eat,

but that the businesses in the food sector have a regular flow of income.

...