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.
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 — creating uncertainty for the 42 million Americans who rely on SNAP to feed their families and whose payments stopped on Nov. 1.
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’s 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.
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.
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 — whose district includes Bay Ridge — and her Republican colleagues to stop what they called political grandstanding at the expense of working families.
Nearly 3 million New York state residents experiencing food insecurity — 30% of them children, 20% seniors and 10% people with disabilities — rely on SNAP benefits. Of those, 1.8 million, including 540,000 children and 540,000 older adults, live in New York City.
In Gounardes’ district alone, more than 42,000 residents are at risk of losing the lifeline that puts food on the table.
“This 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’t starve,” Gounardes said.
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander noted that most SNAP recipients are employed.
“But the job they have doesn’t 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,” Lander said, adding that more than 1 million U.S. military veterans rely on SNAP benefits.
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.
“Tomorrow, you’re going to have people who voted for Trump going hungry. That’s what’s going to happen in this country. It’s very clear that this is a problem that does not discriminate,” Brannan said. “Hunger does not discriminate. Trump and his Republicans need to open up this government back up and get our people what they need.”
Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso said his family once relied on SNAP when he was growing up.
“Government 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,” Reynoso said. “And 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’t happen if the government doesn’t show up for people.”
The Beep urged constituents not to fall for the divisiveness he said Republicans were trying to create.
“They find ways to divide us. They find ways to make us different,” Reynoso said. “They want to make it so that Justin Brannan and I are not standing in the same place because they think that we’re different in some way, but we’re not. We’re all Americans.”
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 — meaning the $7.4 billion in SNAP funding distributed annually across New York state generates $11.5 billion in activity.
“I would never have thought when I got elected 15 years ago that in 2025 we’d 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,” Williams said.
While state Sen. Jabari Brisport urged Gov. Kathy Hochul to release additional funds — Mayor Eric Adams announced $15 million in emergency food assistance Oct. 30 — he emphasized that it was the responsibility of the Republican-led federal government to fund SNAP.
“They 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’t tell me you need Democrats to feed people,” Brisport said. “Stop playing politics with people’s lives. Get the government back open and get the money flowing so people can eat.”
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.
“If you don’t think everyday New Yorkers should eat, you don’t deserve to be a representative in the House of Representatives,” Carroll said. “We 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.”
A rep for Malliotakis did not respond to a request for comment.
Community leaders said they were already feeling the impact of the SNAP freeze.
Somia El-Rowmeim, founder and CEO of the Women’s Empowerment Coalition of NYC, and Cathy Vargas, community services program director at the Center for Family Life, said their “phones were ringing off the hook” with calls from residents inquiring about food pantry services.
“It’s not about politics,” El-Rowmeim said. “It’s about humanity and about dignity. People here rely on Food Stamps. It’s not okay to have people choose between paying rent and being able to put food on the table.”
Vargas described the growing desperation among her organization’s clients.
“We’re seeing the families, the young mothers coming with their children who are crying about food insecurity in their home,” Vargas said. “We’re sitting with our 80-year-old neighbors who are complaining about where they’re going to get their next meal because they have no other means.”
