The partial federal shutdown threatens to block next month's benefits for low-income people who participate in the nearly Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is blaming the situation on Democrats. 

Staring in November, if the lapse in government funding continues, there won't be enough money for the program, USDA told SNAP state agency directors in an Oct. 10 letter. Some 41.7 million people participate in SNAP, according to the latest data released by USDA.

USDA officials didn't respond to requests for comment, but Rollins posted a statement on X Thursday evening.

“Because of the Democrat shutdown, there are not enough funds to provide SNAP for 40 million Americans come Nov 1. Democrats are putting free healthcare for illegal aliens and their political agenda ahead of food security for American families. Shameful,” Rollins said. 

The accusation regarding illegal aliens is a reference to a GOP claim that Democrats oppose a House-passed stopgap spending bill because they want to provide free health coverage to illegal immigrants. It’s a reference to a dispute over whether hospitals should be reimbursed for emergency care they are required by law to provide to people regardless of citizenship status.

Unrelated to that, Democrats have been demanding that Republicans agree to extend expiring premium subsidies for Affordable Care Act insurance policies. 

In North Carolina, which backed President Donald Trump in the last three elections, four in five families receiving SNAP help have either a child, senior or adult with a disability in the household. "We are working to get a better understanding of exactly what that disruption will mean," the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.

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In Minnesota, SNAP and related state funds will both be blocked for active recipients as of Nov. 1, if the federal lapse persists.

"We need Congress to act quickly to end the shutdown and ensure people can continue to put food on their tables," Tikki Brown, commissioner for the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families, wrote earlier this week to leaders in all of the state's 87 counties. 

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The White House announced last week it intends to use tariff revenue to fund WIC, a key nutrition program to help women, infants and children. The plan involves using USDA's Section 32 authority, which dates back to the Great Depression era and uses some import-related funds to help with child nutrition and other USDA programs, according to Politico. 

On Thursday, when asked if the same funds could be used for SNAP, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman,, R-Ark., said he assumes so, but the question is whether there's enough money in the pot. "That's the problem," he said. "You've got all these different entities that need money, and need it sooner rather than later."

The quandary hits amid the most bitter partisanship in modern American politics. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., this week assailed the new tax law championed by Trump that he said rips "food away from hungry children, women, seniors and veterans by also visiting upon the American people the largest cut to nutritional assistance in American history." 

The Food Research and Action Center, a nonprofit group focused on alleviating poverty-related hunger, has urged USDA to use contingency reserves and any other funding sources to ensure benefits don't lapse.

"Hungry people can't wait," FRAC President Crystal FitzSimons said. "Time is running out."

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Parker Litterick contributed to this story.