In light of the federal government shutdown, Republican legislators hit North Carolina’s poor and under-privileged where it hurt: their stomachs. 

In doing so, North Carolina became the first state in the country to cut welfare benefits to the poor in wake of the government-shutdown.

On Oct. 10 the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services sent out a letter to county social service directors instructing them to stop processing applications for the Work First program, according to the News & Observer.

The Work First Program, which is funded entirely by the federal government, provides monthly food assistance and other basic benefits to almost 21,000 North Carolinians, 13,000 of whom are children.

Work First recipients must reapply to the program every month and demonstrate that they are trying to get a job in order to receive benefits.

Sadly, this isn’t the first time Republican legislators have turned their backs on the needy. Other programs on the general assembly’s government-shutdown cutting block included Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.

According to Reuters, TANF, which covers more than 70,000 recipients throughout the state, will be greatly affected.  This is the case despite a promise from the federal government, that it will pay back North Carolina for the money spent on the program as soon as the shutdown is over.

Republican legislators also threatened WIC, a program that supplies baby formula and other materials to needy mothers and their children, on Monday in another unprecedented effort to save money.

All of these last ditch efforts to save money are happening despite the fact that the state government has $650 million saved in case of emergencies. 

Clearly, the needs of families who cannot afford to feed their children do not constitute an emergency in the eyes of our elected representatives. 

Although the government shutdown has ended and federal funding for these programs will come in as they normally do, our state government’s decision to throw the underprivileged under the bus as soon as things start to go rough is awfully telling.

It is especially disconcerting and unusual that our government would cut the Work First program, which was established to provide an incentive to those in need in order to receive benefits.

 It should also be deeply unsettling to the citizens of North Carolina that in the event of the shutdown our government led the country in defunding programs that benefit the people who need it the most.

One of the major criticisms about our Republican legislators is that they care more about wealthy business interests than they do about the middle class or poor citizens of this state.  This chain of events proves beyond any reasonable doubt that this is the case.