[PASADENA, CA] — With 5.5 million Californians, including 2 million children, on the verge of losing food assistance, End Child Poverty California is calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to reverse its unlawful decision and immediately release all necessary funds to provide full November Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits and avert an unprecedented hunger crisis in California and across the country.

The USDA has the obligation, legal authority, and money available to prevent more than 40 million low-income children, seniors, families, and others across the country from losing federal SNAP funds for November beginning Saturday.

One in five Californians lives in poverty once the state’s high cost of living is taken into account, according to the California Department of Social Services. CalFresh, the state’s SNAP program, helps millions of Californians, including families that include workers in low-paying jobs, buy healthy food.

Already, even if the USDA reversed course right now, benefits for millions of Californians, including 2 million children, who rely on CalFresh food assistance, will be delayed because the state needs several days to securely and accurately issue benefits. A state as large as California simply cannot turn on a dime to disburse the November funds.

A loss of CalFresh benefits like this has never happened before. In Los Angeles alone, the food security of 500,000 kids is at risk. Even a brief period of hunger does long-term damage to children’s brain, emotional, and physical development. Simply put, children do not get back the days that they go hungry.

The USDA can ensure food security for Americans right now, despite audacious claims that SNAP-specific contingency funds or other funds cannot be used to cover November benefits. Just a few weeks ago, the USDA’s own website said that the contingency fund can be used for just this purpose, information that has been suspiciously deleted.

California children and families, meanwhile, are being harmed. It is shameful that schools preparing to celebrate Halloween on Friday also are setting up pantries and share tables to help children who will go hungry on Saturday. Families stocking up on candy to give to trick-or-treaters also are planning to offer non-perishable food and hygiene items to those in need.

Meanwhile, while we continue to demand the USDA immediately reverse course and direct states to issue full November SNAP benefits, we also urge Congress to end the shutdown with the passage of a continuing resolution that does not include sunsetting important healthcare funding for middle class and working Americans.