042 - ICE operations heat up, plus a California potpourri of updates

Hey all, we've been enjoying a boom in listeners, and so we'd like to remind you to like, subscribe, rate, comment, and tell your friends about the Drain. Many, many fun things to come!

We're hitting you a couple days late, due to Kempa moving on up to a nicer part of town. He's also gonna be out east, but we'll be recording through ALL of that, so do not fret.

Today, however, we've got some interesting stuff for you:

California Potpourri:

• Cal Fresh is set to stop November 1 – Paris Barraza Palm Springs Desert Sun (look at lawsuit, and call to action)

  • National context: What's in the House GOP's budget resolution? Here's what to know about the plan. - CBS News

    • $1.5 trillion in spending cuts over a 10-year period 

    • $230 b. will come from SNAP program alone

    • OBBBA already neuters SNAP somewhat by lowering the amount the FDA pays states for implementing the program, while raising the amount of money it requires states to match.

  • The shutdown did not impact funding for October benefits. But on Oct. 10, the USDA said in a letter that “if the current lapse in appropriations continues, there will be insufficient funds to pay full November SNAP benefits for approximately 42 million individuals across the Nation.”

  • Democratic officials throughout the country “believe the USDA has up to $6 billion in contingency funds and “possibly more” to fund SNAP.”

  • But a highly-partisan announcement — and likely grim news to the millions of Americans nationwide who rely on food assistance — published on the USDA’s website blamed Senate Democrats over SNAP funding amid the shutdown, and that benefits wouldn't be issued next month.

  • Perhaps this is why “California has joined a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture over the loss of SNAP benefits expected in November amid the federal government shutdown.”

  • Gov. Gavin Newsom had warned Californians were likely to have their CalFresh benefits delayed in November due to the shutdown. CalFresh, known federally as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, provides scores of lower-income Californians with food assistance and is federally funded.

• $11 insulin announced in California (though Newsom promised in 2024)

  • Story from by Kristen Hwang and Ana B. Ibarra

  • “Long-acting insulin pens will be available at pharmacies for $11 per pen — or $55 for a five-pack — beginning Jan. 1. The pens are interchangeable with glargine, the generic alternative for Lantus, a once-a-day injection that regulates blood sugar. An equivalent amount of Lantus sells to pharmacies for more than $92, according to data compiled by the governor’s office, but consumers may pay a different price based on their insurance”

• “California Gurl” Katy Perry and former Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are dating (squeeeeee)

  • Apparently she and Orlando Bloom broke up last month?

• CA GOP retreats on Prop 50 (Will McCarthy in Politico)

  • “The biggest funder of the campaign to defeat Proposition 50, Charles Munger Jr., has not contributed any significant cash to the cause in weeks, and his Protect Voters First committee cut its weekly spending from more than $4 million to less than $300. The other opposition committee, Stop Sacramento’s Power Grab, spent $155,000 on advertising last week, compared to $3.8 million from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Yes on 50 campaign.”

  • “It’s as full-throated a campaign for Democrats in California as if we were in the middle of a presidential election,” said Jon Fleischman, a former executive director of the California Republican Party. “But you can go to the house next door, occupied by