A food service provider is stepping up to provide hot meals to federal workers at the San Jose airport during the government shutdown. The workers haven’t been paid since Oct. 1 and food insecurity is prevalent.
During the shutdown, Martha’s Kitchen is providing more than 800 meals a week to 340 Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers at San Jose Mineta International Airport and Monterey Regional Airport.
“I had never thought TSA would be calling Martha’s Kitchen,” Executive Director Bill Lee told San José Spotlight. “Never in a million years.”
There are as many as 90,000 federal workers living in the Bay Area, according to an analysis by San Francisco Chronicle.
At the heart of this shutdown is the Senate Democrats’ fight to not let Affordable Care Act subsidies expire at the end of December. Health insurance would skyrocket for millions of Americans without these subsidies.
As the shutdown continues, low-income Americans have been worried that food aid was not going to be available starting Saturday. But two federal judges ruled nearly simultaneously Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration must continue funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), known as Calfresh in California, according to the Associated Press.
The judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island gave the administration leeway on whether to fund the program partially or in full for November.
The rulings come a day before the U.S. Department of Agriculture planned to freeze payments to the food aid program. The Trump administration had announced no food aid would go out through SNAP starting Saturday because USDA said it could no longer keep funding it due to the shutdown.
Federal workers across the country have been lining up at food banks and having food distributed to them at airports, including Oakland International Airport.
A San Jose airport spokesperson said the city is supporting workers by sponsoring meals, food and gift cards.
“No one should go hungry or worry about where their next meal will come from,” District 2 San Jose Councilmember Pamela Campos told San José Spotlight. “I’m grateful to Martha’s Kitchen for stepping up once again to care for our community and support families affected by the shutdown. Their example shows how powerful it can be when our community chooses kindness, compassion and offers help.”
In response to shutdown, county officials announced Thursday they will provide $4.5 million for food aid in the coming weeks to support Second Harvest of Silicon Valley. This will buttress funding announced by Gov. Gavin Newsom last week, though county leaders acknowledge it still won’t match the scale of the shortfall from a cessation of benefits. The need may dissipate with the federal ruling requiring the Trump administration to continue funding SNAP.
“What we know from the past is whenever SNAP benefits are reduced, we do see our lines get longer, and we saw that at the end of the pandemic,” Second Harvest CEO Leslie Bacho previously told San José Spotlight. “We also, of course, are concerned about federal workers and contractors who are not receiving a paycheck.”
Bacho said they haven’t seen many federal workers at their food bank yet because people are just starting to feel the effects of the shutdown.
“Generally we end up seeing folks that have never had to ask for assistance before, but suddenly are having to make really tough decisions around paying the rent or affording food,” Bacho previously said. “So we’re concerned about that impact from the shutdown.”
Democratic state attorneys general and governors from 25 states including California, as well as the District of Columbia, challenged the plan to pause the program, contending the Trump administration has a legal obligation to keep it running in their jurisdictions.
Victor Ramirez, a San Jose air traffic controller, said federal workers are continuing to show up for work despite being under the stress of incoming bills.
“We’re still serving the public. Because we know what can happen when we don’t,” Ramirez told San José Spotlight. “But we don’t know how long this will go on. Assuming we’ll get back pay, that’s not a guarantee. No one knows when, or if, that will happen. Meanwhile, we still have to take care of and provide for our families. We still need to pay for housing, food and child care.”
Contact Joyce Chu at [email protected] or @joyce_speaks on X.
Associated Press reporters Michael Casey, Geoff Mulvihill and Kimberelee Kruesi contributed to this story.