NEW YORK — Gov. Kathy Hochul Monday announced the state will provide $30 million in additional emergency food aid to prevent hunger for millions of New Yorkers facing a cutoff of federal food assistance this weekend as the government shutdown drags on with no end in sight.
Meeting with senior citizens and officials at an East Harlem community health center, Hochul vowed the state would fill some of the gap left by the feds’ failure to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) beyond Nov. 1.
“It breaks my heart the reason we have to be here today,” Hochul said. “We’re going to have older New Yorkers, kids, families hurting even more than before.”
Hochul accused President Trump’s administration of refusing to find the funds needed to bankroll the program, often called food stamps, that provides help to up to 3 million New Yorkers.
The state funding will provide an additional 16 million meals to those in need. It comes on the heels of a separate $11 million infusion to local food banks and pantries statewide that Albany announced on Friday.
“While I’ve said repeatedly that no state can backfill these devastating cuts, I am committed to ensuring New Yorkers do not go hungry this holiday season,” Hochul said.
Hochul said she hopes to expand school lunch programs so kids from needy families can take food home.
A Columbia University School of Social Work study estimated that 23,000 New York City residents will be plunged below the poverty line by the cutoff of SNAP even for one month.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has posted a notice on its website saying federal food aid will not be sent out on Nov. 1 as scheduled to about 42 million Americans, which affects 1 in 8 people nationwide.
The Trump administration said it would not tap roughly the $5 billion in contingency funds it would take to keep benefits flowing into November.
“Bottom line, the well has run dry,” the USDA notice says.
The cutoff would expand the pain of the shutdown to a much wider swath of Americans unless a long-shot resolution is found in just a few days.
The standoff has already forced the furloughs of hundreds of thousands of federal workers, and Trump has threatened to permanently fire many of them.
Trump blames Democrats for refusing to back a Republican stopgap spending plan. Democrats, led by congressional leaders Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and Sen. Chuck Schumer, counter by demanding bipartisan negotiations on soaring Obamacare insurance premiums as open enrollment notices drop in November.
The prospect of low-income families being denied food aid has roiled blue and red states alike.
Some states have pledged to keep SNAP benefits flowing even if the federal program halts payments, but the feds insist states won’t be reimbursed for temporarily picking up the cost.
Other states warn SNAP recipients to be ready for the benefits to stop. Arkansas and Oklahoma, for example, are advising recipients to identify food pantries and other groups that help with food.