Rep. Dan Goldman Joins Assemblymember Lee and Councilmember Zhuang for Press Conference Highlighting Devastating Impact of Republican SNAP Cuts on AAPI New Yorkers

 

 

NEW YORK, NY — Congressmembers Dan Goldman (NY-10), along with Assemblymember Grace Lee and Councilmember Susan Zhuang, held a press conference today to highlight the devastating impact of SNAP cuts included in the Republicans’ "Big Ugly" Reconciliation Bill. They condemned the proposed cuts as a direct threat to AAPI small businesses, vulnerable New Yorkers, and already-strained food banks across the city. 

 

“Trump promised to make America more affordable for working-class Americans, but he’s done just the opposite, stripping more than 300,000 New York households of their SNAP benefits,” Congressman Dan Goldman said. “These cruel cuts will not only take food away from vulnerable families, they will also hurt many AAPI small businesses that rely on customers using SNAP and other food assistance benefits to buy groceries. I will continue standing with impacted New Yorkers and hold all seven New York Republican congressmembers accountable for voting to take meals away from their own constituents." 

 

Assemblymember Grace Lee said, “Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are once again targeting our most vulnerable neighbors—this time with devastating cuts to SNAP that will hit Asian American families especially hard. In Chinatown and across south Brooklyn, immigrant parents working full-time are telling me they’ll have to skip meals so their children can eat. The fear and despair this bill is creating is dangerous, inhumane, and a direct attack on Asian American New Yorkers who are simply trying to survive.” 

 

Councilmember Susan Zhuang said, “We see SNAP fraud in our community every single day. The federal government must take responsibility to address this, invest in stopping scammers, restore funding, and protect families. Seniors on fixed incomes struggle to put food on the table, especially with the tariffs; all businesses are impacted, and our underrepresented AAPI community is being left behind. 

 

The Republican reconciliation bill will have devastating consequences for AAPI communities across New York, cutting food assistance for over 300,000 New Yorkers and forcing the city and state to fill the gap, costing New York State an additional $1.2 billion annually. In AAPI neighborhoods across the city, SNAP is a vital part of the local economy, sustaining food banks, small businesses that largely depend on customers using food assistance benefits to purchase groceries, and jobs. Every dollar in SNAP generates more than $1.50 in economic activity. Yet Republicans have slashed this program, using the savings to provide massive tax breaks for billionaires, increase ICE funding by 300 percent, and raise the federal debt by over $4.1 trillion. 

Congressman Goldman has made securing and expanding New Yorkers’ SNAP benefits a top priority since taking office.   

 

Earlier this month, Congressman Goldman secured the inclusion of real-time fraud detection and prevention for SNAP Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) transactions in the FY26 Agricultural Appropriations bill, which would direct the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) to adopt industry-standard electronic fraud detection that would pause suspicious transactions and secure SNAP EBT cards, preventing SNAP EBT theft before it happens. 

 

In July, Congressman Goldman introduced an amendment to the GOP reconciliation bill to strike the provision that increases state responsibility for SNAP administrative costs from 50% to 75%, which would otherwise add an estimated $225 million in annual costs to New York State. This amendment would restore the current 50-50 SNAP cost-sharing split between state and federal funding. 

 

In the Summer of 2023, Congressman Goldman introduced the ‘SNAP Theft Protection Act,’ which aimed to update SNAP to allow states to use existing SNAP funding to refund stolen benefits to victims of SNAP-related scams.