It’s time to end government shutdown. Californians can’t lose food aid | Opinion
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Newsom warns 5.5 million Californians will lose CalFresh benefits in November.
- Shutdown stems from stalled continuing resolution and partisan health-credit fight.
- California delegation urged to pressure GOP leaders to negotiate bipartisan deal.
As early as next month, more than 5 million Californians will be unable to purchase groceries because Republicans and Democrats in Washington, D.C. can’t solve a budget dispute.
That was the warning issued this week by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who said the ongoing federal government shutdown will result in no funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP. Qualified low-income people use SNAP to buy food each month; in California, the program is called CalFresh.
Newsom said CalFresh payments for November won’t be funded if the federal government shutdown continued past Thursday. He pointedly blamed President Donald Trump for such a possibility.
“Trump’s failure to open the federal government is now endangering people’s lives and making basic needs like food more expensive — just as the holidays arrive,” Newsom said in an emailed statement reported by The Sacramento Bee.
Because he occupied the Oval Office, Trump earns a lion’s share of the blame for a shutdown that began on Oct. 1. His budget director has sent layoff notices to 4,000 federal workers and another 600,000 employees have been furloughed. Then there are the federal workers who must continue to do their jobs without getting paid, such as employees in the Social Security Administration. The same goes for air traffic controllers.
On Friday, federal workers will miss their first full paycheck. Next Monday federal courts will not have sufficient funding to sustain regular operations.
By Nov. 1, low-income people who depend on government help to buy groceries won’t have that support.
The shutdown is occurring because the U.S. Senate has not passed what is known as a continuing resolution to fund the government. The measure cleared the GOP-led House. But Democrats in the Senate are holding out to force Republicans to negotiate on extending tax credits for health care that will otherwise expire at year’s end.
Democrats say health-care premiums will skyrocket without the tax credits. Republicans respond that the government should be funded first and that the health care concerns can be dealt with afterward.
The GOP position is akin to saying Republicans cannot walk and chew gum at the same time. Certainly they could negotiate with Democrats over health care and work to get the government funded simultaneously. They just don’t want to give Democrats any appearance of a win, despite the human toll the shutdown is taking.
Widespread food insecurity
A shutdown extending into November will hurt Californians everywhere, but particularly in California’s Central Valley because the impact of losing SNAP benefits falls disproportionately throughout the region.
Take Democrat Jim Costa’s 21st District, which covers Fresno County. He has the highest percentage of SNAP-dependent households in the state, at 26.5%.
The neighboring 22nd District of Republican David Valadao is also SNAP reliant. Twenty-five percent of the households in the Hanford-to-Bakersfield district use SNAP each month.
Here are other congressional districts with significant SNAP use (the data is from a Food Research and Action Center analysis of the Census Bureau American Community Survey for 2023. Data comes from the 118th Congress):
13th, Merced Democrat Adam Gray: 20.4% of households use SNAP
1st, Yuba City Republican Doug Lamalfa: 14.1%
7th, Sacramento Democrat Doris Matsui: 13.8%
20th, Bakersfield Republican Vince Fong: 13.1%
End shutdown now
The data shows that the impact of the government shutdown affects both the GOP and Democrats. Even as strident a MAGA adherent as Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia has said the health care tax credits must be renewed.
California’s congressional delegation should pressure House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate GOP Leader John Thune to get back to the table and work with their Democratic counterparts.
It is time to end the shutdown with a bipartisan deal. About 5.5 million California residents must be able to buy groceries.
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This story was originally published October 22, 2025 at 5:30 AM with the headline "It’s time to end government shutdown. Californians can’t lose food aid | Opinion."