How is US shutdown impacting everyday Americans?

The US government shutdown is approaching the record for the longest ever as the stand-off between the Democrats and Republicans on the Hill continues.

The shutdown, triggered by lawmakers failing to pass new funding bills, began on 1 October, has affected millions of Americans who rely on support programmes normally funded by the federal government. By the end of 5 November, it will be the longest shutdown in US government history, beating the previous record of 35 days set during Donald Trump's first term in 2019, when he demanded Congress allocate money for his promised US-Mexico border wall.

Healthcare is the principal sticking point for the two parties, but the ramifications of the shutdown go far beyond that, with critical federal services struggling to function. Here are some of the biggest impacts of the government shutdown so far.

Flight delays piling up US airports are seeing a pile-up of flight delays due to staff shortages, as those who turn up are not being paid. More than 3.2 million passengers have had flights delayed or cancelled due to air traffic control staffing issues since the shutdown began, according to Airlines for America, which represents some of the biggest airlines in the country.

Air traffic controllers, who coordinate aircraft within the airspace, and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers are classed as essential workers, meaning they must keep operating even though they don't get paid until after it resumes. It means nearly 13,000 air traffic controllers have been working without pay for weeks, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), along with 50,000 TSA officers.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told CNBC on 3 November: "None of them can miss two paycheques. "Their home finances fall apart, and they're all going to have to look at taking second jobs or quitting and getting into another line of work.

And the consequence of that is very real for our air system." And the next day he blamed Democrats for the shutdown - Republicans currently have a majority in both houses - and told ABC: "So if, if you bring us to a week from today, Democrats, you will see mass chaos. "You will see mass flight delays.

You'll see mass cancellations, and you may see us close certain parts of the airspace, because we just cannot manage it because we don't have the air traffic controllers." The FAA was already dealing with a long-standing shortage of about 3,000 air traffic controllers before the shutdown. Many have questioned the safety of air travel amid such shortages, but the flights are intentionally slowed down amid staff shortages to make them more manageable.

Mr Duffy suggested the delays would become more extreme the longer the shutdown went on, with staff being "confronted with a decision" on whether they should stop turning up for work. Food stamps reduced for millions of Americans The shutdown is affecting the 42 million Americans who receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme (SNAP).

The federal programme provides food benefits, also known as food stamps, to low-income families to supplement their grocery budget so they can afford more nutritious food than they would otherwise be able to afford. The government planned to freeze payments to the programme, estimated to cost $8bn per month nationally, starting 1 November, saying it could no longer keep funding it due to the shutdown.

Judges halted the move and said the Trump administration would need to at least partially fund it. The government has indicated it will use an emergency fund of $4.65bn to cover about half of the normal benefits.

Payments for November had already been delayed for millions of people, and now they will only receive half of their usual benefits. Many Democrats suggest the government can afford to make the full payments during the shutdown but is choosing not to.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries has accused Mr Trump and Republicans of attempting to "weaponise hunger" to pressure political rivals into accepting their funding proposals. Whatever the reasons, the impact on struggling families is already being felt.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a floor speech on Monday 3 November: "The stories from this weekend were shameful, sickening. "People overwhelming food banks, handing out groceries in lieu of Halloween candy, teachers paying out of pocket to give their students extra food.

Across America, appalling scenes were seen of people worried they wouldn't be able to feed their families and even themselves." ???? Follow Trump100 on your podcast app ???? Corina Betancourt, from Arizona, a single mum with three children aged between eight and 11, says the SNAP benefits being reduced and delayed means she will need to rely more on her local food bank and find ways to stretch what she has further. She says she is worried that there won't be enough for her children to eat with about $400 this month instead of around $800.

"We always make things work somehow, some way," she adds. Federal workers missing paycheques Some federal employees have turned to food banks as they are going without pay until the shutdown ends.

Roughly 750,000 of them have been furloughed, meaning they are on an unpaid leave of absence and can look for temporary jobs, but others, like aviation staff, are considered essential employees who are contracted to carry on working for the government even if they aren't being paid. Anthony Speight, who is furloughed for the first time in his 17 years as a federal employee, told Sky News' US partner NBC News that he "never thought" he would have to ask the community for help, but was going to a food bank at the end of October.

"Bills continue to pile up. I have car notes, I have children to feed, I have a family to take care of, I have a mortgage to pay, so it's a lot of uncertainty," he said.

Read more:Who is the 34-year-old socialist tipped to be New York City's next mayor?'A noble giant of a man': Former US vice president Dick Cheney dies The Trump administration has taken steps to continue paying US troops, federal law enforcement agents and immigration officers. Members of Congress continue to receive pay during the shutdown under the Constitution's laws, though a handful of lawmakers have asked that their pay be withheld until the shutdown is resolved.

Heating help for low-income homes at risk With temperatures beginning to drop across the US, some states are warning that funding for a programme which helps millions of low-income households pay to heat and cool their homes is also taking a hit. The $4.1bn Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Programme (LIHEAP) helps 5.9 million households across all states, but federal funding is now delayed at a concerning time for those who rely on it.

"The impact, even if it's temporary, on many of the nation's poor families is going to be profound if we don't solve this problem," said Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association, which represents state directors of the programme. Many of those who are supported by LIHEAP also rely on food stamps.

Centres for preschool children lose funding Head Start centres, which serve tens of thousands of the nation's most in-need preschool children, have stopped receiving federal funding. The early education initiative provides centres as an alternative to preschool to children up to the age of five from low-income households, homeless or in foster care, where they are fed two meals a day and receive therapy vital to their development.

But without federal funding, some have closed indefinitely, while others are staying afloat with emergency funding from local governments and school districts. Keiliana Porter, a mother of three from Ohio, had to break the news to her four-year-old twins, Kalani and Kanoelani, that they could not return to school Monday.

"It was like I was punishing them," she said. "They just don't understand, and that's the hardest thing.".