Slashing Food Bank Programs, Decimating LIHEAP Low Income Assistance, Social Security Benefits Portal Malfunctions: Senator Gillibrand

Slashing Food Bank Programs, Decimating LIHEAP Low Income Assistance, Social Security Benefits Portal Malfunctions: Senator Gillibrand

Editor’s note: You can learn more about the current cuts to food bank programs, stopping deliveries of vital groceries and fresh vegetables to food pantries and soup kitchens across the country and in New York. Senator Gillibrand also discussed some of the effects of other program cuts, including those for the World Trade Center Health Program.  

SENATOR GILLIBRAND DEMANDS USDA REVERSE $1 BILLION IN CANCELED FUNDING FOR LOCAL FOOD PURCHASES

In New York, the cancellation of funding jeopardizes more than $63 million for food purchases for food banks, schools, child care centers

Washington, D.C. – Senator Gillibrand joined a group of 31 senators demanding a reversal of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s cancellation of food purchase programs across the United States, warning of the harmful impacts this move will have on New York families and farmers.

The USDA has canceled funding through the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) and the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program (LFS). These programs allow state, territorial, and Tribal governments to purchase food from American farmers to be distributed to food banks, schools, and child care centers across the country. In New York, cancellation of LFPA and LFS funding puts more than $63 million for food purchases at risk in Fiscal Year 2025.

“I have grave concerns about the impact that this cancellation will have on New York’s farmers and the families that rely on food banks, school lunch programs, and child care centers for their daily meals,” said Senator Gillibrand. “At a time of uncertainty in farm country, farmers need every opportunity to be able to expand market access for their products, and this move jeopardizes that access. Furthermore, this will decrease the availability of local foods for the programs that rely on them to feed New Yorkers in need. I am vehemently opposed to the USDA’s decision, and I will fight for its reversal.” 

In the letter, which is led by Senators Adam Schiff (D-CA), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the lawmakers said the reported $1 billion in canceled funding adds further pain at a time of high food prices and instability within U.S. agricultural markets.

The full letter sent to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins can be found here and below:

Dear Secretary Rollins:  

We write to express serious concerns regarding the cancellation of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs supporting local and regional food purchases providing assistance to those in need. These successful programs, the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) and the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program (LFS), allow states, territories, and Tribes to purchase local foods from nearby farmers and ranchers to be used for emergency food providers, schools, and child care centers.  

At a time when food insecurity remains high, providing affordable, fresh food to food banks and families while supporting American farmers is critical. Notably, LFPA and LFS have benefitted producers and consumers by providing funding for purchases through all 50 states, four territories, and 84 tribal governments. Through LFPA and LFS, USDA has prioritized the procurement and distribution of healthy, nutritious, domestic food. It has also taken an important step towards igniting rural prosperity by expanding and strengthening markets among farmers and rural economies. As of December 2024, the programs had supported over 8,000 producers, providing increased marketing opportunities.  

Most importantly, we ask that you reverse the cancellation of LFPA and LFS. We also ask that you provide a thorough and complete update on USDA’s implementation of LFPA and LFS, including answers to the following questions:  

Advertisement

1. What is the status of reimbursements for entities that have agreements with USDA through LFPA and LFS? What is the last date for which states, territories, and Tribes received reimbursements for food purchases under LFPA and LFS?  
2. Has the Administration conducted any assessments of how these program cancellations will impact producers and recipient organizations (e.g., food banks, schools, child care centers)? If so, please provide a copy of any such assessments.  

We have grave concerns that the cancellation of LFPA and LFS poses extreme harm to producers and communities in every state across the country. At a time of uncertainty in farm country, farmers need every opportunity to be able to expand market access for their products.  

Please provide responses to the information requested in our questions no later than Friday, April 4. Thank you for your attention to this urgent and important matter.  

GILLIBRAND SLAMS TRUMP’S MASSIVE CUTS TO FOOD BANK FUNDING

Amid Sky-High Grocery Prices, Trump Is Denying Food To Hungry Families 

New York Food Banks Receive Tens Of Millions Of Dollars’ Worth Of Food Through Now-Slashed Federal Programs 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand held a virtual press conference slamming the Trump administration’s massive cuts to funding for food banks.

Last month, President Trump slashed $1 billion in federal funding used to purchase food for food banks and other organizations that provide meals, like schools and child care centers. Now, he is canceling another $500 million in already approved funding for food banks and other emergency food providers through The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). New York receives roughly $30 million through TEFAP each year in regular funding; this supplemental money would have funded additional food purchases at New York’s regional food banks and their partner soup kitchens and food pantries.

Senator Gillibrand was joined by CEO of Hunger Free America Joel Berg.

“Seventy-two days into Trump’s presidency, grocery prices are still sky-high, with no sign of improvement on the horizon,” said Senator Gillibrand. “And as hungry families turn to food banks and soup kitchens for help, Trump is now slashing the funding they rely on. It’s outrageous. Programs like TEFAP have overwhelming bipartisan support. They help serve every community – rural, urban, Democratic, Republican – in every state in times of need. They are not an extraneous expense; they are an investment in healthy kids, healthy families, and healthy futures. I am calling on the Trump administration to provide answers on what plans – if any – it has to keep Americans from going hungry after these cuts, and I will be doing everything in my power to reverse them.”

The full text of Senator Gillibrand’s letter to USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins on cuts to The Emergency Food Assistance Program is available here or below.

Dear Secretary Rollins:

We write regarding the reported cancellation of hundreds of millions of dollars in previously approved funding for food banks and other emergency food providers through The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). A cancellation of these funds could result in $500 million in lost food provisions to feed millions of Americans at a time when the need for food shelves is extremely high due to costly groceries and an uncertain economy. If true, this major shift in a program utilized by emergency food providers in every state in the nation will have a significant and damaging impact upon millions of people who depend upon this program for critical food assistance.

In addition, this program consists of purchases of U.S. commodities at a time when America’s growers and producers are struggling due to tariffs, proposed tariffs, animal disease and many other challenges.

According to recent statistics, nearly one in every seven Americans have faced food insecurity. Many of these households turn to community and emergency relief organizations such as food banks and food pantries to help them obtain sufficient nutrition. In 2023 alone, 50 million Americans turned to emergency food providers, according to a report from Feeding America, America’s largest network of food banks. While food banks rely on a variety of sources (including private) to obtain food for distribution through their networks, federally purchased commodities are a key part of how they provide nutritious meals to Americans.

Due to this reported change, a number of us have heard that trucks delivering American-grown foods may not arrive. These trucks represent hundreds of thousands of nutritious meals containing poultry, fruits, vegetables, and dairy. If confirmed, the cancellation of this previously announced funding also comes on top of the cancellation of Local Food for School Program and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Program funding, which also helps farmers deliver nutritious foods to schools and food banks. These cuts will deprive Americans of food assistance, emergency food providers of necessary support to carry out their work, and American farmers of vital domestic markets.

To help us understand USDA’s actions and their impact on communities around the country, we ask that you answer the following questions.

1. Has USDA cancelled previously approved purchases of food provided through TEFAP? If so, what level of funding has been cancelled thus far and when will state agencies be notified of any cancelled TEFAP purchases?
2. Does USDA plan to cancel additional purchases of food provided through TEFAP?
3. Has USDA paused any TEFAP food orders or purchases? If so, what is the current status of those orders or purchases? Does USDA intend to un-pause these funds?
4. Please provide information on what types of funding, by commodity, have been cancelled and the financial impact of those cancellations on producers such as pork, chicken, turkey and dairy farmers.
5. Is the funding announced on October 1, 2024 and detailed in the implementation memo that the Food and Nutrition Service sent to state agencies on December 2 rescinded?
6. Does USDA intend to use Commodity Credit Corporation funds in Fiscal Year 2025 for future purchases that will be distributed through TEFAP?

We ask for a prompt response to these questions by the end of the week.

Sincerely,

GILLIBRAND CONDEMNS TRUMP FOR DECIMATING THE LOW INCOME HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (LIHEAP); CUTS THREATEN TO RAISE COST OF LIVING FOR MORE THAN ONE MILLION NEW YORK HOUSEHOLDS

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand issued the following statement on the Trump administration firing all the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) staff running the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which will render the program incapable of disbursing funding to New York and deprive low-income New Yorkers of energy assistance they rely on:

“LIHEAP is a commonsense, bipartisan program,” said Senator Gillibrand. “In the coldest and hottest months of the year, it lowers the cost of living and saves lives. By firing everyone who disburses LIHEAP funding, President Trump and the so-called ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ are preventing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding that Congress has already allocated to LIHEAP from reaching families in need. President Trump is raising the cost of living, all to provide tax cuts for billionaires. I will be doing everything in my power to get President Trump to reverse these cuts and deliver financial assistance to New Yorkers who need it.”

LIHEAP helps tens of thousands of low-income households across the state afford their energy bills and make cost-effective repairs to their heating systems. During winter 2022-2023, the program helped 1.1 million New York households heat their homes.

Gillibrand has been a longstanding advocate of the program. Every year, she secures hundreds of millions in LIHEAP funding for New York. She also cosponsors legislation to expand LIHEAP and ensure that no household pays more than three percent of its annual income on energy costs.

NEWS: Sanders, 30 Senate Colleagues Demand Trump Reinstate Workers Providing Critical Heating Assistance to Americans

WASHINGTON, April 11 – After President Donald Trump and Elon Musk arbitrarily fired every worker in the office that helps working class families with children and seniors on fixed incomes stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), alongside 30 Senate colleagues, today sent a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. demanding that the administration reinstate those workers and ensure they can continue administering the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).

Joining Sanders on the letter are Sens. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Angus King (I-Maine), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.).

“Last year, LIHEAP provided over 6 million American households with the assistance they needed to heat their homes during extremely cold winters and to keep air conditioners running in the soaring heat. Without this bipartisan program, Americans throughout the country would be forced to make the unacceptable choice between putting food on the table, paying for prescription drugs, or heating their homes in the winter,” Sanders and the senators wrote. “In the richest country in the history of the world, no one should be forced to make that unacceptable decision.”

For almost 45 years, LIHEAP has helped families around the nation with the costs of home energy bills. Rising energy costs have made this assistance even more important for working families, seniors and people with disabilities. According to the Census Bureau, more than 23 percent of households report that they were unable to pay their energy bills in full last year.

“The administration has a legal and moral obligation to disburse LIHEAP funds to states and to uphold the program’s promise to help families keep the heat and air condition on,” Sanders and the senators continued. “Therefore, we urge you to immediately reinstate all of the LIHEAP staff that were terminated, reopen the Division of Energy Assistance (DEA) that administers this program, and disburse all of the LIHEAP funds that Congress has appropriated. Being able to heat your home in the freezing cold and keep the air condition on in the extreme heat is not a luxury. It is a matter of life and death.”

Read the text of the letter here.

GILLIBRAND Presses Social Security Commissioner on Benefit Portal Malfunctions, Planned Firings of SSA Tech Workers

Lawmakers Send Letter Amidst Widespread Website Outages, Benefit Disruptions

Washington, D.C. – Senate Special Committee on Aging Ranking Member Kirsten Gillibrand wrote to Acting Social Security Commissioner Leland Dudek to demand that the Social Security Administration (SSA) address ongoing issues with the SSA website and reverse its reported plans to worsen the situation by firing up to 50 percent of employees from the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO). Gillibrand was joined on the letter by Senate Banking Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren and Senate Finance Ranking Member Ron Wyden.

OCIO is responsible for maintaining the agency’s benefit claims processing systems, managing SSA.gov and SSA’s online benefits portal, and protecting Social Security recipients’ sensitive information. In February, the agency announced plans to reduce its workforce by over 12 percent. Hundreds more staff firings will happen at OCIO, which has been directed to cut half of its staff. These cuts are expected to worsen the ongoing issues with SSA’s website and online portals, including recipients being incorrectly labeled as “not receiving payments” and losing access to their account histories.

“It is unsurprising that weeks after you allowed DOGE to invade SSA, improperly access SSA data, and announce closures of Social Security offices, our constituents began having problems accessing their benefits…We are concerned that these recurring issues will impact the benefits of our constituents—many of whom rely on Social Security to pay rent or put food on the table,” wrote the lawmakers.

The cuts to the agency also expose SSA to system vulnerabilities, risking Americans’ data to hackers and foreign agents seeking to obtain private information. In addition to the dozens of senior SSA officials with centuries’ worth of experience who have resigned or retired, SSA’s entire cybersecurity leadership was also part of the exodus.

“Leaving Americans’ most sensitive information unguarded places immeasurable financial and economic harm on our most vulnerable…We ask that you immediately cease all OCIO firings and act swiftly to restore SSA system and website functionality to prevent any further disruption of…benefits,” concluded the lawmakers.

The senators asked Dudek to provide clarity on the impact of cuts to OCIO, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) role in the firings, and the acting commissioner’s plan to ensure technical knowledge of internal systems is not lost during workforce reductions.

The letter is the latest in a series of actions by Senator Gillibrand to protect Social Security from the Trump administration’s efforts to cut the program. Last week, Senator Gillibrand led a letter with Senator Ron Wyden calling on the Trump administration and DOGE to stop their attacks on Social Security, specifically calling out SSA’s staffing cuts, plans for indiscriminate closures of field offices around the nation, and attempts to limit phone services. Earlier this year, Gillibrand also demanded answers from the administration about its plans to close the Social Security office in White Plains, NY; slammed the Trump administration for its efforts to “buy out” SSA employees; and joined elected officials in New York to call on the administration to stop its repeated efforts to cut Social Security.

The full text of the letter can be found here.

Banner Image: Food pantry. Image Credit – Khalil Radi