The Shutdown and the Dinner Table: A Guide to America’s Food-Assistance System

For nearly a century, federal food programs have promised that no American should go hungry. The shutdown tested that promise.

As Washington’s two parties traded shutdown threats, the real consequences unfolded far from the Capitol. Workers were furloughed, households braced for higher health-care premiums, and food-insecure Americans were suddenly unsure where their next meal would come from.

Overnight, tens of millions of Americans who relied on federal food-assistance program…