California is one of 23 states suing President Donald Trump’s administration trying to force it to use emergency money to cover food benefits for millions of poor families during the federal government shutdown, Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta said Tuesday.
More than five million Californians rely on the program each month, known in California as CalFresh, nationally as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and colloquially as food stamps.
The federally-funded benefits amount to about $1 billion delivered to Californians’ electronic benefits cards each month to spend on groceries; the program lowers the state’s poverty rate by 3 percent, state Health and Human Services Secretary Kim Johnson said Tuesday. The average family receiving CalFresh gets $330 a month.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture indicated it wouldn’t send the money for November as the federal government remained shut down, an about-face from prior department plans — and prior government shutdowns. Congress hasn’t passed a bill funding the federal government, as Democrats and Republicans remain in a stalemate over whether to extend health care premiums subsidies that Trump wants to cut.
State officials are warning of spiking hunger and demand at food banks when recipients have their monthly benefits withheld next week for the first time in the program’s 60-year history. Last week, Newsom fast-tracked $80 million in previously-approved state funds toward food banks and called up the National Guard to help deliver aid. On Tuesday, he slammed the administration for withholding benefits as Americans head into the holidays.
Newsom and Bonta argue it’s unlawful not to pay the benefits when the USDA has $5 to $6 billion in contingency funding that Congress has already allowed for emergency use on the program. The department spends about $8 billion monthly providing food aid nationwide.
A department spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. A banner on its website blamed Democrats for the shutdown, falsely stating they were using it to push health care for undocumented immigrants.
