What's at stake in the battle over SNAP funding? One Bay Area county has a $21 million contingency plan.

"MARTINEZ - After the Trump administration refused to pay for SNAP during the government shutdown - an unprecedented move to cut a half-century-old food assistance program that has helped one in eight people in the U.S. pay for groceries - a federal judge ordered him to do so last week. That kicked off a back and forth that by Friday night had drawn in the Supreme Court, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson pausing a lower-court order to fully fund the program - and leaving payments to 42 million Americans in limbo."

"The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as CalFresh in California, is a critical lifeline that helps 5.5 million low-income residents in this state pay for groceries. But those benefits, which can be up to $785 per month for a family of three, expired Nov. 1 when the Trump administration said it wouldn't dip into $5 billion in contingency funds to help sustain the program."

"What's lost amid all of the political ping-pong, experts say, is the confidence that the national program will effectively prevent the physical, social and economic pangs caused by hunger. Dr. Diane Schanzenbach, an economist at Georgetown University who studies policies aimed at improving the lives of children in poverty, said Trump's decisions have derailed local food systems and SNAP's overall effectiveness. "I often think of food as the canary in the coal mine when it comes to families experiencing financial hardship," Schanzenbach said. This data around food insecurity "is a first indicator for this to spiral into an eviction crisis.""

A federal refusal to use contingency funds during the government shutdown caused SNAP benefit payments to lapse, prompting a federal judge to order funding and a Supreme Court justice to pause that order, leaving benefits for 42 million Americans uncertain. CalFresh serves 5.5 million low-income Californians, with benefits up to $785 monthly for a family of three; those benefits expired Nov. 1 after the administration declined to tap $5 billion in contingency funds. Experts warn the disruption undermines confidence in SNAP's ability to prevent hunger and related economic harms. Contra Costa County planned a one-time loading of up to $21 million onto debit cards for over 100,000 local recipients as emergency relief.

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