In perhaps the most publicly tense moment of this 29-day standoff, Senate Majority Leader John Thune blocked an effort by Democratic Sen. Ben Ray Lujan to move his bill that would have directed USDA to use its contingency funds to fund SNAP.

SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), also known as food stamps, will be cut off for 42 million Americas beginning Nov. 1, including nearly 2 million in Pennsylvania and 500,000 in Philadelphia. Most recipients of federal food assistance are the elderly, families with children, and the disabled.

The US government shutdown has entered its fifth week and there is no clear end in sight. With Democrats and Republicans deadlocked over passing a spending plan that would reopen federal agencies, millions of Americans are feeling economic pain that could soon grow worse.

Bill Swick, who has a rare degenerative brain disease, has lost access to virtual speech therapy due to the federal government shutdown.

FBI investigations have been slowed or stalled by the second-longest U.S. government shutdown in history, leaving the bureau without funds to pay informants or make undercover drug or gun buys, gaps that an FBI spokesperson said are putting national security at risk.

CNBC host Joe Kernen called out Democratic Vermont Sen. Peter Welch for taking part in "extortion" by not voting in favor of ending the shutdown on Wednesday. CNBC host Joe Kernen pressed Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., on Wednesday for repeatedly voting to continue the government shutdown.

Shutdown? What shutdown? President Donald Trump is barreling along like the government isn't shuttered, keeping up international and domestic travel while construction crews race to transform the White House to accommodate his new ballroom.