New York Attorney General Letitia James is leading a coalition of 22 other attorneys general in urging United States Congressional leaders to restore the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme (SNAP) benefits and eligibility protections for Caribbean and other immigrants.
According to the US Department of Agriculture, SNAP provides food benefits to low-income families to supplement their grocery budget so they can afford the nutritious food essential to health and well-being.
The attorneys general also urged Congress to reject efforts to reduce food assistance for families, seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, and working people.
In a letter to US Senate leadership and the leaders of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, the coalition warns that recent federal SNAP cuts – the largest reductions to food assistance in modern history – are increasing hunger, creating new bureaucratic hurdles for eligible families, and shifting billions of dollars in costs onto states and local governments.
They say as the Senate considers the next Farm Bill, it has an opportunity to reaffirm a bipartisan commitment that no American and immigrant should go hungry because they cannot afford food.
“SNAP helps millions of Americans put food on the table and supports the farmers and grocers that feed our communities. Our representatives in Washington need to understand the consequences of these cuts and the families, veterans, and seniors they are hurting.
“I am urging the Senate to reverse these cruel changes and restore the food assistance that millions of Americans count on,” James added.
James said SNAP provides critical support to more than 2.9 million New Yorkers, including Caribbean immigrants and children, seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, and working families struggling with the high cost of living.
She said new federal restrictions passed in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, including expanded work requirements and additional administrative hurdles, make it significantly harder for New Yorkers to keep their benefits or threaten to push them off the program altogether.
In their letter, the attorneys general argue that expanded work requirements and administrative hurdles do not create jobs or reduce poverty, but cause eligible families to lose assistance because they are unable to navigate increasingly complex bureaucratic requirements.
They also argue that new cost-sharing provisions require states to shoulder billions of dollars in new costs while imposing substantial new administrative burdens, “a significant shift from SNAP’s longstanding federal commitment to ensuring that Americans do not go hungry during times of need.”
In New York alone, James said these changes could cost well over one billion US dollars annually beginning in 2027.
The attorneys general warn that these unprecedented shifts could force states to make impossible choices between cutting other essential services or reducing SNAP support for vulnerable residents.
They are urging the Senate to take a different approach from the House-passed Farm Bill, which fails to reverse recent cuts to food assistance. They are calling on the Senate to restore SNAP benefit levels and funding, reverse or delay new cost-sharing requirements, and roll back expanded work requirements and eligibility restrictions.
In December 2025, James successfully secured a federal court order preventing “unlawful disruptions” to SNAP benefits and fought to ensure families could continue to access to SNAP during the October 2025 federal shutdown. (CMC)
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