California files lawsuit to force SNAP payments

Announcing the state’s lawsuit Tuesday, Bonta said the USDA was using the shutdown as a “scapegoat” to needlessly and illegally withhold SNAP payments despite having upward of $6 billion in contingency funding that is required to beused to ensure SNAP payments continue during funding disruptions.

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ABOUT 5.5 million Californians rely on SNAP benefits. In San Diego, military families get free food Friday. AT A food bank in L.A., Army 1st Sgt. Wiljohn Santos, left, and Sgt. Luis Gonzalez help pack produce Friday.

(SANDY HUFFAKER AFP/Getty Images ALLEN J. SCHABEN Los Angeles Times)

including by going to state food banks for groceries. Newsom has activated the National Guard to help handle that influx in California.

However, Cheyne said many others will probably find out about the disruption while standing in grocery store checkouts.

“We anticipate a huge surge in people extremely upset to find out that they've literally shopped, and the groceries are in their cart, and their kids are probably with them, and then they get to the checkout, and then it’s, ‘transaction denied: insufficient funds.’”

Children and older people — who make up more than 63% of SNAPrecipients in California — going hungry across America is a dire enough political spectacle that politicians of both parties have worked aggressively to prevent it in the past, including during previous government shutdowns. But this time around, they seem resigned to that outcome.

Republicans and Democrats have been unable to reach a deal on the budget impasse as Democrats fight Republicans over their decision to slash healthcare subsidies relied on by millions of Americans. With no end in sight to the nearly monthlong shutdown, federal workers who are either furloughed or working without pay — including many in California — are facing financial strain and increasingly showing up at food pantries, officials said.

A deluge of SNAP recipients will only add to the lines, and some food bank leaders are becoming increasingly worried about security at those facilities if they are overwhelmed by need.

Pointing fingers