California’s child care system already falls short of meeting families’ needs, and a proposed change to federal child care funding could further limit access for one-parent families.
Families and children need access to nurturing, affordable child care programs that best meet their needs. California’s publicly funded child care programs provide access to child care at low-to-no cost across a variety of settings, including homes, centers, and schools for diverse families across California.
How do federal Child Care and Development Fund dollars support California’s child care programs?
The child care programs administered by the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) are partially funded by the federal Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF). Specifically, CCDF funding comprises approximately one in five dollars for these programs, reflecting a critical source of support for low-to-no cost child care for low- and middle-income families in California.
How might the proposal to expand the use of CCDF dollars impact California’s families?
The Trump Administration proposed to use CCDF dollars to provide subsidies to married-couple families with stay-at-home spouses in certain income brackets to care for their children. In other words, children from one-parent families would not be eligible for this proposed subsidy, thus reducing CCDF funding for families who face unsustainably high child care costs and limited access to publicly funded child care. If the Trump administration implements this proposal without working with Congress to increase funding levels, families will have an even harder time accessing affordable child care.
The unmet need for publicly funded child care remains alarmingly high due to a decades-long pattern of underfunding. In California, the potential impact of this federal proposal would be significant given 55% of children in California eligible for publicly funded child care are in one-parent families. Additionally, among Californians utilizing CCDF dollars, 75% are one-parent families.
All children and families, regardless of household composition, deserve choices for accessing the affordable child care option that is best for them. Proposals to limit options and reduce access for one-parent families harm California’s children and reverse progress on expanding access to the state’s affordable child care programs.
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Puntos clave
Muchas disposiciones incluidas en el perjudicial megaproyecto de ley republicano, H.R. 1, y en el presupuesto estatal de California para 2025-2026 reducirán directamente el financiamiento federal y estatal destinado a Medi-Cal y CalFresh, poniendo a millones de californianos en riesgo de perder su cobertura de salud y asistencia alimentaria.
El megaproyecto de ley republicano recientemente promulgado, H.R. 1, incluye los mayores recortes de financiamiento a la atención médica y a la asistencia alimentaria en la historia de Estados Unidos, lo que amenaza con desestabilizar el sistema de atención médica de California y agravar la inseguridad alimentaria.
Según la Agencia de Salud y Servicios Humanos de California (California Health and Human Services), H.R. 1 podría provocar que 1.3 millones de californianos pierdan su cobertura de Medi-Cal, el programa Medicaid de California, y costarle al estado “decenas de miles de millones” de dólares en financiamiento federal cada año. H.R. 1 también podría costarle a California entre $2.3 billones y $5.1 billones anuales, también podría poner en riesgo de perder por completo la asistencia alimentaria a aproximadamente un millón de californianos y reducir el monto de los beneficios de CalFresh para los 3 millones de familias que participan en el Programa de Asistencia Nutricional Suplementaria, (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program o SNAP), conocido como CalFresh en California.
La ley federal socava a los programas Medi-Cal y CalFresh de diversas maneras. Varias disposiciones eliminarán directamente fondos federales que se canalizan a través del presupuesto estatal para financiar estos programas, al tiempo que introducen nuevas barreras de elegibilidad y acceso que dificultan para los californianos de bajos ingresos la posibilidad de tener acceso a Medi-Cal y CalFresh.
Si bien el presupuesto estatal para 2026-2027 incluyó algunas inversiones para tratar de mitigar el impacto perjudicial de la H.R. 1 en los participantes de CalFresh y las personas inscritas en Medi-Cal, también implementó diversos recortes al programa Medi-Cal que agravarán el daño para los californianos necesitados.
La siguiente tabla presenta un cronograma de los próximos recortes a CalFresh y Medi-
Cal introducidos por H.R. 1 y el reciente presupuesto estatal.
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key takeaway
Many provisions in the harmful Republican megabill, H.R. 1, and the 2025-26 California state budget will directly reduce federal and state funding for Medi‑Cal and CalFresh, putting millions of Californians at risk of losing health care coverage and food assistance.
The recently enacted Republican megabill, H.R. 1, includes the largest cuts to health care and food assistance in US history, threatening to destabilize California’s health care system and exacerbate food insecurity.
According to the California Health and Human Services Agency, H.R. 1 could cause 1.3 million Californians to lose their Medi-Cal — California’s Medicaid program — coverage, and cost the state “tens of billions” of dollars in federal funding every year. H.R. 1 could also cost California between $2.3 billion and $5.1 billion annually, put roughly a million Californians at risk of losing their food assistance entirely, and reduce the value of CalFresh benefits for all 3 million households who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), known as CalFresh in California.
The federal law undermines Medi-Cal and CalFresh in various ways. Several provisions will directly eliminate federal dollars that flow through the state budget to fund these programs, while also introducing new eligibility and access barriers that make it harder for Californians with low incomes to access Medi-Cal and CalFresh.
While the 2026-27 state budget included some investments to try to mitigate the harm of H.R. 1 on CalFresh participants and Medi-Cal enrollees, the state budget also enacted various cuts to the Medi-Cal program that will compound the harm to Californians in need.
The table below displays a timeline of the upcoming cuts to CalFresh and Medi-Cal introduced by H.R. 1 and the recent state budget.
Alissa Anderson, Scott Graves, and Adriana Ramos-Yamamoto contributed to this publication.
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key takeaway
California’s proposed Medi-Cal asset limit would force seniors and people with disabilities to spend down modest savings in order to keep health coverage and in-home care services, increasing the risk of housing instability, financial insecurity, and poverty.
The governor’s May Revision proposes decreasing the current Medi-Cal asset limit from $130,000 to just $2,000 for an individual, reflecting a 98% reduction in the limit to qualify for Medi-Cal. The $2,000 restriction was first put in place in 1989, making the figure grossly outdated, especially considering the cost of living today. Since eligibility for In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) is generally linked to Medi-Cal eligibility, many people who lose access to Medi-Cal could also lose access to IHSS.
What Are In-Home Supportive Services?
The In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program provides in-home assistance to seniors, individuals who are blind, and people with disabilities who qualify. Examples of IHSS include personal care (e.g., bathing, dressing, and grooming) and help with meal preparation. By providing this care, IHSS allows participants to continue living safely and independently in their own homes instead of moving to costly out-of-home facilities.
The example in the chart demonstrates how someone with moderate assets, in the form of $10,000 in savings, would be well over the proposed $2,000 limit, making them ineligible for Medi-Cal and therefore ineligible for IHSS.
This drastic decrease in the asset limit would have far-reaching consequences for older adults and Californians with disabilities including:
Forcing individuals to spend their life savings, leaving very little in their bank account in case of emergencies. For an individual with a modest $10,000 in life savings, they would be forced to spend 80% of what is in their bank account to adhere to the asset limit.
Preventing individuals from renting an apartment or remaining in their homes, increasing their risk of experiencing homelessness. If an applicant is required to pay for first and last month’s rent for an apartment — which in California is about $3,000 on average — the asset limit would make it impossible to save up that amount without losing their health care coverage. If an individual owns their home, they may be unable to pay their property tax, which is, on average, $4,230 in California, after spending down their life savings.
The proposed asset limit fails to reflect the realities individuals need to save for and could force older adults and Californians with disabilities to decide between having a place to live and saving for an emergency or receiving life-saving care through Medi-Cal and IHSS.
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key takeaway
Young adults across California face higher-than-average poverty and deep poverty rates as they transition into adulthood, underscoring the need to strengthen core basic needs programs and investments that help young Californians achieve economic stability and meet their basic needs.
Young adulthood is a crucial time to establish independence and start to build financial stability, both of which are pivotal to laying the foundation for a successful future. However, this can be difficult to do while experiencing food insecurity, housing instability, and poverty, as almost 744,000 young adults across California do.
Newly released data based on the California Poverty Measure (CPM) show that 23% — almost one-fourth — of young adults ages 18–24 are living in poverty, with 7.6% experiencing deep poverty. These rates outpace other age groups and are well above the average poverty and deep poverty rates for all Californians — 16% and 4.4%, respectively. This exposes a critical gap in access to economic stability and anti-poverty programs for young Californians.
How are poverty and deep poverty defined here?
The California Poverty Measure (CPM) compares a family’s economic resources to a poverty threshold that represents the minimum level of resources a family needs to achieve a modest standard of living within a California-specific context. Individuals experiencing deep poverty are those whose resources are less than 50% of the CPM poverty threshold.
Young Adults Encounter Many Barriers to Achieving Economic Stability
Economic instability is especially common among young adults as they make the transition into adulthood, a period when young people make key decisions about their next steps in education, work, and independence. Some enter the workforce for the first time, often taking on entry-level or low-wage jobs as they begin to build experience. Others pursue higher education or training, navigating rising costs, student housing shortages, and limited basic needs assistance while enrolled. Across these trajectories, higher-than-average unemployment rates, increased likelihood of working in low-wage occupations, and varied levels of family and community support contribute to the uncertain economic situation in which many young adults find themselves.
These challenges are especially pronounced for certain communities, including Black and Latinx young people who are more likely to face structural barriers to employment, and LGBTQ+ youth who are more likely to experience homelessness. Programs like CalFresh, Medi-Cal, and subsidized housing can play a crucial role in alleviating some of these struggles for young adults experiencing poverty and help ensure they have the tools to build a successful life.
However, CPM data show that while basic supports reduce poverty among young adults, the impact is not as pronounced as with other age groups. This may point to young adults being less consistently served by core basic needs programs, which often prioritize families with children, older adults, and people with disabilities.
The barriers to basic needs programs, lack of state investment, and challenging economic circumstances increase the likelihood of economic instability and may result in even higher poverty rates for young Californians.
Policy Recommendations to Help Alleviate Poverty
Meaningfully addressing poverty among young adults is already a complex task, and the adverse policy changes mentioned above will only make it harder. Some policies that could help ensure poverty rates don’t increase further while bolstering the state’s anti-poverty programs in the face of H.R. 1 include:
Strengthening access to core benefits: Invest in county capacity for streamlined, comprehensive intake to help eligible young adults maintain Medi-Cal and CalFresh despite increased federal barriers.
Restoring inclusive coverage: Reverse the state enrollment freeze for undocumented adults and eliminate the added premium to ensure equitable access to health care.
Addressing housing instability: Provide sustained Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) grant funding so counties can expand proven, flexible homelessness prevention and response strategies, in addition to replenishing depleting bond dollars to support investments in affordable housing.
In order to meaningfully address high rates of poverty for all Californians in the long run, the state will have to raise significant, ongoing revenue, beginning by eliminating costly corporate tax breaks that cost California billions of dollars in forgone revenue each year, which could be used to support Californians struggling to make ends meet. More broadly, California should strengthen its tax base so that people with high incomes and wealth contribute fairly to the public investments needed to improve the lives of all Californians.
By strengthening the core programs that young adults depend on, California leaders can help mitigate rising poverty and increase young adults’ access to basic needs. In turn, young adults can have a better chance to pursue their educational, professional, and personal aspirations.
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key takeaway
H.R. 1’s historic cuts to Medi-Cal could cause up to 2 million Californians to lose their health care, destabilizing the state’s health care system and worsening health and economic outcomes in every legislative district.
Access to health care and food assistance are critical for every Californian to survive. But due to the Republican megabill H.R. 1, signed into law in 2025, millions of Californians are likely to lose access to these invaluable programs that help them meet their basic needs.
H.R. 1 includes the largest cuts in U.S. history to food assistance and health care programs, among other critical services. Medi-Cal — California’s Medicaid program — provides free or low-cost health care to nearly 15 million Californians. According to the Department of Health Care Services, federal cuts to Medicaid are estimated to cost “tens of billions of dollars” in lost federal funding to Medi-Cal every year and could cause up to 2 million Californians to lose their health care.
These cuts, together with additional cuts to CalFresh, threaten to destabilize California’s health care system, worsen health outcomes, increase costs, and exacerbate food insecurity in every legislative district in the state.
The tables below show how many residents in each of California’s legislative districts benefit from Medi-Cal. These cuts will have wide-reaching impacts in every community across the state that state leaders should consider as they deliberate the 2026-27 state budget and other policy priorities.
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key takeaway
H.R. 1 includes the largest cuts in U.S. history to food assistance and health care programs, threatening billions in CalFresh funding and putting more than 3 million California households at risk of losing some or all of their food assistance.
Access to health care and food assistance are critical for every Californian to survive. But due to the Republican megabill H.R. 1, signed into law in 2025, millions of Californians are likely to lose access to these invaluable programs that help them meet their basic needs.
H.R. 1 includes the largest cuts in U.S. history to food assistance and health care programs, among other critical services. CalFresh — known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) nationally — helps over 5 million Californians with low incomes purchase food. The cuts to SNAP could result in between $2.3 billion and $5.1 billion annually in lost funding for CalFresh and could put more than 3 million households at risk of losing some or all of their food assistance.
These cuts, together with additional cuts to Medi-Cal, threaten to destabilize California’s health care system and exacerbate food insecurity in every legislative district in the state.
The tables below show how many residents in each of California’s legislative districts depend on CalFresh and the millions of dollars that are infused into these local economies when participants purchase groceries. These cuts will have wide-reaching impacts in every community across the state that state leaders should consider as they deliberate the 2026-27 state budget and other policy priorities.
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key takeaway
H.R. 1’s new eligibility restrictions will cause tens of thousands of Californians with humanitarian immigration statuses to lose or see significant reductions in CalFresh assistance, putting immigrant and mixed-status families at greater risk of hunger.
CalFresh — California’s name for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — is a proven anti-poverty intervention and the most effective tool we have to fight hunger. Last year, Republicans in Congress and the Trump administration approved the largest cuts to food assistance in the program’s history.
As part of the SNAP cuts, starting April 1, 2026, 72,000 Californians with humanitarian immigration statuses, including refugees and people granted asylum, will lose their CalFresh monthly assistance at their next recertification and even more will see their benefits significantly reduced.
The new eligibility restrictions on these lawfully present humanitarian immigrants put thousands of California families at risk of a hunger crisis. The impacts of these cuts will be felt beyond individuals with specific humanitarian status, who include people with disabilities, seniors, and children. Their family members, a majority of whom are children and US citizens, will also be impacted by reduced assistance as entire household benefits are slashed with this change. For example, a four-person family where the two parents have been granted asylum and their two children are US citizens, could see their monthly food assistance drop from $994 to $546 — a 45% reduction.1$994 is the maximum SNAP monthly allotment for a family of four in Fiscal Year 2026. Excluding the parents reduces the household size to two members, who could receive a maximum of $546 per month in SNAP benefits. Note that the maximum SNAP allotment is granted to families with net income of $0 — those with the greatest need.
Already, hundreds of thousands of income-eligible Californians are excluded from receiving food assistance based on their immigration status. Without state action, H.R. 1-imposed immigrant restrictions will further exacerbate food insecurity among immigrant and mixed-status families, who disproportionately face high levels of poverty. Households impacted by H.R. 1-imposed immigrant restrictions are also currently ineligible for the California Food Assistance Program (CFAP), the state-funded food assistance program put in place in response to the 1996 federal cuts to immigrant SNAP eligibility, to mitigate inequitable food access.
Currently, an expansion of CFAP is being implemented for immigrants ages 55 and over, regardless of status, and once that is complete, the system will be better equipped to serve other excluded populations, like the humanitarian immigrants, should policymakers expand access.
California leaders should use all tools at their disposal, like building on this CFAP expansion, to prevent more families from going hungry and ensure all Californians in need can access food regardless of their immigration status.
$994 is the maximum SNAP monthly allotment for a family of four in Fiscal Year 2026. Excluding the parents reduces the household size to two members, who could receive a maximum of $546 per month in SNAP benefits. Note that the maximum SNAP allotment is granted to families with net income of $0 — those with the greatest need.
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