Food aid is one of numerous competing priorities California lawmakers will have to juggle in the face of steep potential federal cuts.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has suspended a total of 330 truckloads bound for food banks across the state, according to the California Association of Food Banks, with no indication of when or if they'll be delivered.

The biggest potential hit is to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, where 90 expected truckloads are in limbo.

The orders were bonus orders promised during the Biden administration, on top of deliveries the USDA normally makes to food banks.

The freeze of the bonus orders came as food banks braced for other cuts, both from a new Trump administration intent on reducing federal spending, and from California's own state budget deficit after several flush budget years in the pandemic.

In Washington, Congress is also considering cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which sends about $1 billion a month to low-income Californians to buy groceries.

California receives more than $314 billion in federal funds for food benefits, health coverage, and other social services each year, while federal grants to nonprofits and private contracts total more than $81 billion.

Department of Finance spokesperson, H.D.

Palmer, said it's still too early to determine whether California can afford to make up any of the federal spending being cut.

The USDA has also canceled other food bank grants, which will affect farmers too.

"Some of the funds had allowed small farmers to buy new equipment, invest in greenhouses, and expand their footprints to serve food banks," said Megan Kenney of the North Coast Growers' Association in Humboldt County.

"They were encouraged to do these sorts of things.

If they have to make a larger investment into seeds or labor without getting to see a return, they could really see that impact."

For CalMatters, I'm Jeanne Kuang.