Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries held a press availability at The Campaign Against Hunger’s Bed-Stuy location with CEO Dr. Melony Samuels and constituents to highlight the pain being inflicted on everyday Americans as a result of the Trump SNAP Crisis. 

“Here in this great country, America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, not a single person should ever go hungry. Not one. And yet, here we are on November 1 with the Trump administration having been ordered by two different federal courts to make sure that SNAP benefits were not discontinued, but they are unlawfully withholding this nutritional assistance from 42 million Americans, including 16 million children, 8 million seniors and over a million veterans. There are approximately 3 million people in New York State who are now going to struggle to put food on the table because of the unlawful decision by the Trump administration to withhold SNAP benefits. And where is Donald Trump right now? He’s on the golf course at his luxury resort in Florida. This is not leadership. It’s cruelty in action,” said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08). “Our commitment is to make sure that we get full restoration of the SNAP benefits urgently and as soon as possible. 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.” 

“Today, as millions, and I say millions, of New Yorkers face our reality of losing access to SNAP benefits, we are reminded that hunger is not an abstract issue. It lives right here in our neighborhood, right here in Bed-Stuy, in Brooklyn, in our schools, in our home, with our hardworking families simply trying to make ends meet. Our community is under siege, as fear, anxiety and depression has taken a hold and with families that are struggling to put food on their table,” said Dr. Melony Samuels, CEO, The Campaign Against Hunger.” At TCAH, we serve over 14,000 families every week, but since Thursday until now, we have seen a 40% increase in families that need food because of this shutdown, because of what’s going on. If this continues, we expect that we don’t know what we’ll do because SNAP is our first line of defense when it comes to feeding families. We cannot replace SNAP. But in the meantime, we have to do the best that we can to make sure that no one is turned away.”

“I’ve been working two full-time jobs with three kids, single mom. And since 2017, eventually, I got sick and I could not work, and I applied for extra help. I can’t get it because I’m making too much money. Extra food stamps, I can’t get it because I’m getting too much income,” said Blossom Robinson, NY-08 Constituent. “Someone had told me about The Campaign Against Hunger over here, and I came over here and I registered, and this place saved my life and saved my children’s life.”

Full press availability can be watched here.

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