As the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history nears 40 days, Pittsburgh-area businesses are feeling the strain that has already befallen everyday citizens due to interruptions of necessary services, such as SNAP benefits to provide food for those who qualify.

Ryan Sprankle, one of the co-owners of Sprankle's Neighborhood Market and the operator of the shop in Kittanning, is one of the business owners who has been affected by the interruption of SNAP benefits. He logged on to Facebook to vent his frustrations with the government shutdown at the urging of his wife.

"I hate to bring it home, but sometimes your spouse is your person in the event," Sprankle told KDKA-TV. "She said, 'You need to go live with this. People need to see what business owners and what working people are dealing with right now as a result of these decisions, or lack of decisions.'"

"My perspective is: it's out of control," Sprankle said in the video. "Everybody's acting like, well, I would say children, but children act better than this."

Sprankle says 25 percent of his store's business is generated by customers who receive SNAP benefits, and those sales at the beginning of the month help to cover overhead expenses, as well as benefits for 32 employees.

"We haven't had to make any cuts as far as number of employees," he said. "But we've had to trim the hours on almost every employee other than long-term managers. Everybody's been affected by it, as far as the hours they're used to getting, especially at the beginning of the month."

But with SNAP funds currently not available, and temporary measures still on the way, Sprankle said his store has already been affected, even having to extend payment terms with suppliers to make sure bills get paid. His customers have been forced to limit their spending, and it's also led to a rise in thefts, borne out of desperation for neighbors to have food.

"We've had five people that we haven't arrested, just because we have a heart," he said. "We normally have one person get caught stealing every month, maybe every two months. We've had five in the last couple days. It's already hitting home."

Sprankle said most businesses get their extra inventory in early November in the hopes of selling it throughout the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, but when the sales don't happen, that inventory sits on shelves. That creates more overhead and eventually, a loss in revenue. But in this case, it also means more people in his community go without food, especially children and senior citizens.

"They have no idea about politics," Sprankle said of the children. "They have no idea about how their parents got into the position where they needed to get food stamps. They just know that they don't have food."

"There are thousands of kids just in our area that are literally, from the time they leave school and get that last lunch to the time when morning comes and they get to breakfast, they're going with very little to no food."

Sprankle said for those who have tighter budgets in the absence of SNAP funding, he recommends foods that can feed more people for less money, like chicken, ground turkey or hot dogs among available meats.

"I would look at a lot of pastas, a lot of pasta-based dishes, a lot of spaghetti, stuff like that," he said. "You can feed a family for $10-12 if you're shopping correctly."

But he also has some advice for lawmakers in both Washingon and Harrisburg, where the Pennsylvania state legislature is approaching 130 days without an approved state budget.

"This isn't about politics," he said. "This is about people. It's about our people, and they should be doing their job for our people and putting their differences aside and let's get to the table.

"Let's at least talk. Let's get something ironed out."