New York declares state of emergency to issue food banks $65m amid shutdown | US federal government shutdown 2025
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency Thursday to free up funds to provide $65 million in aid to food banks as federal funding for the national food stamp program is scheduled to end Nov. 1.
Oregon and Virginia also issued emergency declarations to release state cash for emergency food aid because the federal government shutdown jeopardized Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) benefits for nearly 42 million Americans.
The money will go to food banks and pantries, community resources that are already under pressure.
According to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), New York state receives approximately $650 million in federal funds each month for Snap aid.
Neither Congress nor the Trump administration has taken action to fund the November Snap aid, which costs about $8 billion a month.
Most states, including New York, have said they cannot pay the benefits themselves. The Legal Aid Society on Thursday said New York has the ability to fund Snap and should tap state resources to do so.
“The Trump administration is cutting food aid to three million New Yorkers, leaving our state facing an unprecedented public health crisis and hurting our grocers, tavernkeepers, and farmers along the way,” Hochul, a Democrat, said in a statement. he said. “Unlike Washington Republicans, I will not sit idly by while families struggle to put food on the table.”
Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said the state will use excess funds to pay for up to a month of Snap benefits. Oregon’s Democratic governor, Tina Kotek, on Wednesday donated $5 million to food banks and declared a 60-day food safety emergency.
Twenty-one Democratic governors on Thursday sent a letter to Donald Trump demanding that USDA use emergency funds and other resources to fund November aid.
“Stopping Snap benefits will put millions of Americans at risk of food insecurity and poverty. Snap is more than a food aid program, it is a lifeline,” the letter said.
A coalition of more than two dozen Democratic states and governors sued the administration this week to secure emergency funds and appeared before a federal judge in Boston on Thursday.
Reuters contributed reporting
