Here's what individuals and families need to know about SNAP eligibility, applying for SNAP, and what happens after submitting your SNAP application.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — more commonly known as SNAP, or food stamps — is a key benefits program that serves more than 40 million people across the country. Now, the shutdown is threatening to suspend benefits, raising concerns over where millions of people who rely on the program will turn to for food.

The federal government shutdown is threatening to suspend these SNAP benefits, after the US Department of Agriculture last week, in a message on its website, that payments would not be issued on Nov.