{"id":27117,"date":"2025-11-03T18:16:28","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T18:16:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/27117\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T18:16:28","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T18:16:28","slug":"brooklyn-officials-urge-congress-to-end-shutdown-as-snap-benefits-hang-in-the-balance-brooklyn-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/27117\/","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn officials urge congress to end shutdown as SNAP benefits hang in the balance \u2022 Brooklyn Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Congress is set to break the record this week for the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, two federal judges ruled Oct. 31 that the Trump administration must continue to provide Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits during the shutdown, using emergency reserve funds.<\/p>\n

However, the judges left it up to the administration to decide whether to fund the program partially or in full for November, and it remains unclear how quickly the funding will be reinstated \u2014 creating uncertainty for the 42 million Americans who rely on SNAP to feed their families and whose payments stopped on Nov. 1.<\/p>\n

Brooklyn lawmakers, nonprofit food pantry providers and clergy gathered in Bay Ridge on Friday, demanding that the Republican-led Congress end the federal shutdown, which began Oct. 1. The shutdown stems in part from the Republican Party\u2019s refusal to extend the Affordable Care Act Premium Tax Credits, which help millions of Americans pay for their health insurance premiums. Without the credits, many stand to lose their coverage as premiums are expected to more than double, rising from an average of $888 in 2025 to $1,904 in 2026.<\/p>\n

\"\"Brooklyn lawmakers and community leaders rally in Bay Ridge on Oct. 31, calling on Congress to end the government shutdown and restore SNAP benefits.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

Congressional Democrats have proposed a bipartisan budget that maintains affordable health care without giving tax breaks to billionaires, but Republicans have so far refused to compromise.<\/p>\n

At a press conference at Third Avenue and 81st Street, across from Brooklyn Harvest Market, state Sens. Andrew Gounardes and Jabari Brisport, Assembly Member Robert Carroll, Comptroller Brad Lander, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Council Member Justin Brannan and Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso called on U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis \u2014 whose district includes Bay Ridge \u2014 and her Republican colleagues to stop what they called political grandstanding at the expense of working families.<\/p>\n

Nearly 3 million New York state residents experiencing food insecurity \u2014 30% of them children, 20% seniors and 10% people with disabilities \u2014 rely on SNAP benefits. Of those, 1.8 million, including 540,000 children and 540,000 older adults, live in New York City.<\/p>\n

In Gounardes\u2019 district alone, more than 42,000 residents are at risk of losing the lifeline that puts food on the table.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a crisis of the utmost urgency, and so we are here with advocates and other elected officials to demand that our Congress does the job they are supposed to do, which is to keep government open and fund the benefits that we pay for so that people don\u2019t starve,\u201d Gounardes said.<\/p>\n

\"\"State Sen. Andrew Gounardes, left, and New York City Comptroller Brad Lander speak at a Bay Ridge press conference Oct. 31, urging Congress to end the government shutdown and restore SNAP benefits.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann \"\"Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso shares his family\u2019s experience with SNAP, stressing the importance of government support for working families.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander noted that most SNAP recipients are employed.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the job they have doesn\u2019t pay enough to feed their families, and so what Republicans are doing by refusing to pass a budget that restores affordable health care and restores SNAP is making it impossible for hard-working families, for kids, for seniors, for people with disabilities, to put food on the table,\u201d Lander said, adding that more than 1 million U.S. military veterans rely on SNAP benefits.<\/p>\n

Council Member Justin Brannan, whose district includes Bay Ridge, said that more than 50,000 of his constituents were about to lose their SNAP benefits and noted that the freeze was also affecting Trump supporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cTomorrow, you\u2019re going to have people who voted for Trump going hungry. That\u2019s what\u2019s going to happen in this country. It\u2019s very clear that this is a problem that does not discriminate,\u201d Brannan said. \u201cHunger does not discriminate. Trump and his Republicans need to open up this government back up and get our people what they need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso said his family once relied on SNAP when he was growing up.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernment worked for people like my mother, who came here from the Dominican Republic with very little in her pockets and was able to raise three children with the assistance of the government,\u201d Reynoso said. \u201cAnd in one generation, my mother went from an immigrant with no money in her pockets to being the mother of the first Latino borough president in Brooklyn. And that doesn\u2019t happen if the government doesn\u2019t show up for people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Beep urged constituents not to fall for the divisiveness he said Republicans were trying to create.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThey find ways to divide us. They find ways to make us different,\u201d Reynoso said. \u201cThey want to make it so that Justin Brannan and I are not standing in the same place because they think that we\u2019re different in some way, but we\u2019re not. We\u2019re all Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Brooklyn lawmakers and community leaders rally in Bay Ridge on Oct. 31, calling on Congress to end the government shutdown and restore SNAP benefits.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann \"\"New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams speaks at a Bay Ridge rally Oct. 31, highlighting the economic and humanitarian impact of SNAP benefit cuts during the government shutdown.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams emphasized that SNAP also benefits the economy, noting that cuts would hurt small businesses. Studies show that $1 in SNAP benefits generates $1.54 in economic activity \u2014 meaning the $7.4 billion in SNAP funding distributed annually across New York state generates $11.5 billion in activity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would never have thought when I got elected 15 years ago that in 2025 we\u2019d be fighting to make sure that the government subsidies that make sure that children eat every single day are under attack and being used as pawns,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n

While state Sen. Jabari Brisport urged Gov. Kathy Hochul to release additional funds \u2014 Mayor Eric Adams announced $15 million in emergency food assistance Oct. 30 \u2014 he emphasized that it was the responsibility of the Republican-led federal government to fund SNAP.<\/p>\n

\"\"Council Member Justin Brannan addresses residents at a Bay Ridge rally Oct. 31, warning that more than 50,000 constituents risk losing SNAP benefits due to the government shutdown.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

\u201cThey control Congress, they control the Senate, they control the presidency. They did not need Democrats to cut Medicaid funding. They did not need Democrats to give billions of dollars in tax cuts to the oligarchs who got them elected and Donald Trump elected. They did not need Democrats to send ICE to arrest public elected officials like Brad Lander twice. So don\u2019t tell me you need Democrats to feed people,\u201d Brisport said. \u201cStop playing politics with people\u2019s lives. Get the government back open and get the money flowing so people can eat.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the spirit of Halloween, Assembly Member Robert Carroll said that the only ghouls were the Republicans in the House of Representatives, led by Malliotakis.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t think everyday New Yorkers should eat, you don\u2019t deserve to be a representative in the House of Representatives,\u201d Carroll said. \u201cWe need to make sure that we are funding SNAP benefits so that children can eat. This is not just going to wreak havoc on Democratic districts. This is going to wreak havoc on Americans in every single corner of our country [and] hurt our economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"State Sen. Jabari Brisport speaks at a Bay Ridge press conference Oct. 31, urging the Republican-led Congress to reopen the government and restore SNAP funding.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann \"\"Brooklyn lawmakers and community leaders rally in Bay Ridge on Oct. 31, calling on Congress to end the government shutdown and restore SNAP benefits.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

A rep for Malliotakis did not respond to a request for comment.\n<\/p>\n

Community leaders said they were already feeling the impact of the SNAP freeze.\n<\/p>\n

Somia El-Rowmeim, founder and CEO of the Women\u2019s Empowerment Coalition of NYC, and Cathy Vargas, community services program director at the Center for Family Life, said their \u201cphones were ringing off the hook\u201d with calls from residents inquiring about food pantry services.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not about politics,\u201d El-Rowmeim said. \u201cIt\u2019s about humanity and about dignity. People here rely on Food Stamps. It\u2019s not okay to have people choose between paying rent and being able to put food on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vargas described the growing desperation among her organization\u2019s clients.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing the families, the young mothers coming with their children who are crying about food insecurity in their home,\u201d Vargas said. \u201cWe\u2019re sitting with our 80-year-old neighbors who are complaining about where they\u2019re going to get their next meal because they have no other means.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Congress is set to break the record this week for the longest government shutdown in U.S. history,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27118,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[5316,2898,8069,98,100,99,7169,17056,8073,10981,9,24,12,370,63,87,17057,14979,14225],"class_list":["post-27117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-andrew-gounardes","tag-antonio-reynoso","tag-brad-lander","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-food-pantry","tag-jabari-brisport","tag-jumaane-williams","tag-justin-brannan","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-nyc","tag-politics","tag-robert-carroll","tag-snap-benefit","tag-snap-cuts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27117"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27117\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}