The Trump administration came in for sharp criticism on the sidewalk in front of the Westchester County Department of Social Services offices on Court Street in White Plains on Oct. 28 for refusing to use $6 billion in contingency funds to keep the SNAP program going during the government shutdown. A group of local leaders gathered to protest the decision to cut funding for SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, effective Nov. 1.

More than 40 million Americans receive monthly food assistance through SNAP, including an estimated 73,000 residents of Westchester. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said that as of Nov. 1, SNAP benefits would end because of the government shutdown and it would not dip into the contingency fund that Congress had established for SNAP funding.

Sen. Shelley Mayer speaking with other Westchester leaders who spoke out against SNAP cut.

The gathering of officials speaking out against USDA’s decision included State Sen. Shelley Mayer, State Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins, Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins, State Sen. Pete Harckham, Assembly Members Chris Burdick and Dana Levenberg, County Legislators Nancy Barr, Terry Clements, Judah Holstein, David Imamura, Erika Pierce, and Jewel Williams Johnson, White Plains Mayor Tom Roach, White Plains Common Council Members Victoria Presser, Justin Brasch, and Jenn Puja, Interim CEO of Feeding Westchester Tami Wilson and Westchester Department of Social Services Commissioner Leonard Townes.

“The USDA has made an immoral, unprecedented decision,” Mayer said. “Never before has a government shutdown disrupted the distribution of SNAP benefits. This is a political decision that will be devastating to so many – primarily children, seniors, and individuals who are disabled. We should be clear this is a manufactured crisis. There is only one clear, moral thing to do. We call on the USDA to release the funds so Americans do not go hungry.”

Jenkins said, “We’re calling on the federal government to do what’s right, use the contingency funds that exist for this very reason, and protect the people who need this support most.”

According to Harckham, “If Trump won’t invest in our safety net, children and seniors will pay the price. Food banks, hospitals, and community programs will be stretched to breaking point as families are left with nowhere else to turn. In the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one should go hungry, and no elected leader should ever call that acceptable.”

Johnson, who is chair of the County Board of Legislators’ Health Subcommittee, said, “Despite our reputation for affluence, one in ten Westchester residents and nearly one in seven children live below the poverty line. I see these struggles up close in my own District 8, where working families are doing everything right, yet still find themselves one unexpected expense away from an empty refrigerator. When we deny families the basics of nutrition, we erode the very foundation of our communities.”