Kingston, NY – “New York, under the leadership of Attorney General Tish James, was among the states to sue the U.S. Department of Agriculture last week over the suspension of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). On Friday, the court ruled that the funding of the program must continue.

Asking 3 million New Yorkers, among them 1 million children, to wait for the court process to play out would be an abdication of our duty to protect our constituents against the Trump administration. New York must act immediately, as other states already have. Virginia and Delaware have committed to fully funding SNAP for the month. New Mexico has committed to funding SNAP for the first ten days and revisiting the funding after those ten days. Hawaii and Louisiana have stated they're working on plans to fund some or all the lapsed SNAP benefits. New York has the resources to immediately act by calling for an emergency session to advance $640 million, and the state’s Congress delegation must negotiate a reimbursement as part of the deal to end the federal government shutdown – a federal bill for such a reimbursement has already been introduced.”

Assemblymember Shrestha is among the fifty state legislators to sign a letter asking the Governor to advance $640 million.