California Attorney General Rob Bonta said today that California and a multistate coalition have filed a complaint and an expedited request for a temporary restraining order seeking to force the U.S. Department of Agriculture to use available contingency funds and to stop withholding November Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.

"They are doing this on purpose. It is deliberate," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said, describing USDA communications that, he said, first told states SNAP should continue during a lapse in appropriations and then reversed course and ordered states to withhold issuance files. Bonta said the agency has contingency funds — which he described as up to $6,000,000,000 — that could be used to fund November benefits.

The lawsuit, Bonta said, was filed by a coalition that he described as including 23 attorneys general and three governors and seeks a court ruling that the suspension is unlawful, an order requiring USDA to use available funds "to provide as many benefits as possible," and an injunction to prevent withholding of November benefits. Bonta said the filing includes a request for a temporary restraining order on an expedited schedule and that courts sometimes rule the same day or the next day.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, who joined the announcement, said the federal decision will disproportionately affect rural and low-income communities and called the action "intentional cruelty." Newsom described state contingency measures to cope with any gap in federal benefits, including accelerating an $80,000,000 distribution to 50 food banks that work with roughly 2,500 pantries statewide, mobilizing Cal Volunteers and deploying National Guard personnel to assist logistics where requested.

"We're going to win this lawsuit," Newsom said, adding that the state has already sent volunteers and a limited National Guard contingent to support food banks and that another cohort is on standby. Secretary Kim Johnson thanked the governor for accelerating the funds and said the state is directing residents to cafoodbanks.org for donation and volunteer information.

Bonta and Newsom emphasized the scale of the potential harm. Bonta and Johnson cited federal and state program figures during the event: Bonta said USDA's action threatens about 41,000,000 SNAP recipients nationally; he said CalFresh serves about 5,500,000 Californians each month, and Gov. Newsom and Kim Johnson supplied state figures for older adults and veterans affected. The administration also pointed to economic effects: USDA has estimated that every $1 in SNAP benefits generates roughly $1.50 in economic activity. Newsom noted California has about 26,600 grocers, farmers markets and other businesses that accept SNAP payments.

USDA communications are central to the legal claim laid out by Bonta. He reviewed a Sept. 30 "lapse of funding" plan in which, he said, USDA advised that SNAP should continue during a funding lapse and described contingency funds set aside by Congress; an Oct. 1 letter that, he said, initially told states to continue processing applications; and subsequent letters culminating in an Oct. 24 memo that the state says claimed USDA lacked authority to use contingency funds. Bonta said USDA provided "zero basis" for that claim.

The state announced operational steps for now: continue administering applications and program operations (as required by federal rules), run urgent public messaging about the suspension, distribute the accelerated $80 million to food banks, and use Cal Volunteers and requested National Guard members for logistics support. Newsom and Johnson said those supports are intended to blunt immediate harm but acknowledged the $80 million is not sufficient to replace a full month of federal benefits.

The legal filing remains pending. Bonta said the complaint and temporary restraining order request are designed to restore payments quickly if the court finds USDA has unlawfully withheld funds. "We believe we can get a restraining order in short order and that the SNAP benefits will flow as they should have been flowing already," Bonta said.

Questions during the press conference addressed timing (Bonta said TRO hearings can occur very quickly), the role of the National Guard at food banks (Newsom said Guard members were requested voluntarily and would be used mainly for logistics), and the limits of state authority to replace federal benefits. No judicial ruling had been announced at the time of the press conference.