The U.S. government on Monday said it will provide half of the monthly aid provided by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to recipients in November.
The Trump administration said it will tap into the program’s contingency fund amid the government shutdown.
Some $4.65 billion from SNAP's contingency fund will “be obligated to cover 50% of eligible households’ current allotments” for November, according to a sworn statement from a U.S. Department of Agriculture official submitted in federal court obtained by CNN. The remaining $600 million in the fund will be used for state administrative expenses and nutrition assistance for Puerto Rico and American Samoa.
Governor Kathy Hochul said the Trump administration's decision not to fully fund SNAP was "indefensible."
"Three million New Yorkers started this month without the food assistance they rely on and now face even more uncertainty thanks to this callous decision," she said in a statement. "Every Republican in Washington should be outraged that the President is deliberately inflicting pain on the American people. Instead, they’re complicit."
U.S. Representative Hakeem Jeffries, who was at a food pantry in Bedford-Stuyvesant on Saturday, said Democrats in Washington were working towards a solution.
"Our commitment is to make sure that we get full restoration of the SNAP benefits urgently and as soon as possible," Jeffries said at the pantry run by Campaign Against Hunger. "It should be done immediately, consistent with the law. And our commitment will continue to be to make sure that that happens because hunger is not a personal choice. It's a result of challenges, hardship and inequality in a society that should never exist.”
Dr. Melony Samuels, chief executive officer of the Campaign Against Hunger, said the organization serves over 14,000 families every week, but since Thursday, the group saw a 40% increase in families that need food.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Saturday said New York Community Trust, Partnership for New York City and United Way of New York City are connecting with businesses and philanthropists to help area food banks provide enough food for the the 1.8 million city SNAP recipients.
Elected officials from Brooklyn also condemned the Trump administration, and demanded Congress reopen the government and stop forcing families to choose between healthcare and feeding their children.
“The Trump administration is taking food out of the mouths of nearly three million New Yorkers, including over 42,000 people in my Brooklyn district,” said State Senator Andrew Gounardes at a rally in Bay Ridge on Friday. “It's deeply shameful, but there's an easy way to avoid it: re-open the government without slashing healthcare for working families.”
He was joined by city Comptroller Brad Lander, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Renoso, state Assemblymember Robert Carroll, City Council Member Justin Brannan and others.
