CITY OF NEWBURGH – Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Friday called for House Republicans to oppose what he called the biggest cut to food assistance in American history.
Schumer made that call while standing with area community and religious leaders and farmers at the Deacon Jack Seymour Food Pantry.
The pantry is operated by the Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta Parish, including the churches of Sacred Heart and Saint Francis.
Schumer said Republicans in Washington are trying to rip away nearly $300 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, America’s largest anti-hunger program.
He said the current version of the bill was rejected in a procedural vote Friday by the House Budget Committee because “even they know this is unpopular.”
But he said the White House will continue to fight for it, and everyone who opposes it must continue fighting, too.
Locally, cuts already made by the U.S. Department of Agriculture have cost the Hudson Valley 1 million pounds of food, Schumer said. That will leave more than 200,000 seniors, families and children hungry, he said.
The cuts come at a bad time, as the need and demand for food is growing.
Paul Zalanowski, one of the directors of the Deacon Jack Seymour Food Pantry, noted that for the first three months of 2025, the pantry served 26,162 clients, including seniors, younger adults, children and the homeless.
Regional Food Bank of Northeastern NY’s Felicia Kalan, Sen. Chuck Schumer, Crist Orchards’ Jeff Crist, Deacon Jack Seymour Food Pantry’s Paul & Linda Zalanowski, Assemblyman Chris Eachus, Rev. Fernando Hernandez, Rev. Christy Miller, Bishop Jeffrey Woody decry SNAP cut.
Restaurant inspections: Latest restaurant inspections: What Middletown restaurants were cited for in April
Projected forward for the year, that means the pantry likely will serve more than 100,000 for the year. Four years ago, they served 49,000.
“It’s doubled,” Zalanowski said.
Felicia Kalan, executive vice president of the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York, said many of those coming to food banks are single mothers struggling to make ends meet, or seniors who worked their whole lives and now find themselves forced to choose between food and medications.
“Hunger is one of the few things that has the power to unite all of us,” Kalan said.
Assemblyman Chris Eachus of Central Valley, who used to volunteer at the pantry before going to Albany, said the primary clients of food pantries used to be “the economically disadvantaged.”
“Now it’s the middle class,” he said.
And City of Newburgh Mayor Torrance Harvey said food insecurity can lead to a life of crime.
“We’re willing to join you and bring this fight to Washington,” he told Schumer. “We can no longer afford to sit on the sidelines.”
Schumer said everyone who hears about the proposed SNAP cuts needs to contact their representatives in Washington and tell them to oppose it. And they need to contact their local officials and urge them to do the same.
Mike Randall covers breaking news for the Times Herald-Record and the Poughkeepsie Journal. Reach him at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Schumer brings fight against SNAP cuts to mid-Hudson Valley
Read the full article here
