Senator Kirsten Gillibrand held a virtual press conference on Wednesday slamming the Trump administration’s massive cuts to funding for food banks.
According to a release from the Senator’s office, President Trump slashed $1 billion last month in federal funding used to purchase food for food banks and other organizations that provide meals, like schools and childcare centers. Gillibrand claims he is now canceling another $500 million in already approved funding for food banks and other emergency food providers through The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). According to the Senator, New York receives roughly $30 million through TEFAP each year in regular funding; this supplemental money would have funded additional food purchases at New York’s regional food banks and their partner soup kitchens and food pantries.
“Seventy-two days into Trump’s presidency, grocery prices are still sky-high, with no sign of improvement on the horizon,” said Senator Gillibrand. “And as hungry families turn to food banks and soup kitchens for help, Trump is now slashing the funding they rely on. It’s outrageous. Programs like TEFAP have overwhelming bipartisan support. They help serve every community – rural, urban, Democratic, Republican – in every state in times of need. They are not an extraneous expense; they are an investment in healthy kids, healthy families, and healthy futures. I am calling on the Trump administration to provide answers on what plans – if any – it has to keep Americans from going hungry after these cuts, and I will be doing everything in my power to reverse them.”
The full text of Senator Gillibrand’s letter to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins on cuts to The Emergency Food Assistance Program is available here
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