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

"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. Seniors eat lunch at the Pittsburg Senior Center on Nov. 5, 2025, in Pittsburg, Calif. Approximately 40 seniors receive lunch provided by Meals on Wheels Diablo Region four days a week at the center. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)"

"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. The federal program paid out over $100 billion last year in nutritional benefits, with each recipient, on average, receiving $188 on their cards on the first of each month."

The Trump administration declined to use contingency funds to pay SNAP benefits during a government shutdown, causing benefits to expire on Nov. 1 and creating legal intervention. A federal judge ordered funding, and a Supreme Court action paused a lower-court order, leaving payments to 42 million Americans unresolved. CalFresh serves 5.5 million Californians and can provide up to $785 monthly for a family of three. Interruptions to benefit distribution have weakened confidence in SNAP's ability to prevent hunger and related social and economic harms and raise risks of eviction. SNAP distributed over $100 billion last year.

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