For millions, food aid runs out this week

Families scramble and state braces for deluge of need as shutdown cuts off SNAP funds.

- By Kevin RECTOR, Jenny GOLD, ANA CEBALLOS AND REBECCA PLEVIN

ALLEN J. SCHABEN Los Angeles Times

A MEMBER of the Navy joins others in his community, top, waiting to receive food in San Diego last week. National Guard troops deployed to food banks by Gov. Gavin Newsom include Army Spc. Jazmine Contreras, shown Friday in L.A.

Michaela Thompson, an unemployed mother in the San Fernando Valley, relies on federal assistance to afford the specialized baby formula her 15-month-old daughter needs because of a feeding disorder.

At $47 for a five-day supply, it’s out of her reach otherwise.

But with the federal shutdown blocking upcoming disbursements of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits — previously known as food stamps — Thompson said she doesn’t know how she’s going to fill her daughter's bottles.

“It feels like the world is kind of crumbling right now,” she said. “I'm terrified for my family and my daugh-

Millions of low-income families who rely on SNAP benefits to put food on the table in California and across the country — about 1 in 8 Americans — are confronting similar fears this week, as federal and state officials warn that November funds will not be issued without a resolution to the ongoing federal shutdown and Congress shows no sign of a breakthrough.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta announced Tuesday that California is joining other Democrat-led states in suing the Trump administration to force SNAP payments through the use of contingency funds, but the litigation — even if successful — won't prevent all the disruptions.