Food bank and religious leaders joined farmers and U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer Monday in Rensselaer to warn about proposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which helps low-income families purchase groceries. 

Schumer said congressional Republicans in their recently announced budget are looking to cut $230 billion from USDA programs, including SNAP, to pay for President Donald Trump's proposed tax cuts. The senator and other speakers said the cuts would leave millions of Americans without protection from hunger at a time of heightened need.

"We’re in the fight of our lives to save SNAP," Schumer said. 

SNAP cuts would come on top of Trump's unilateral reductions to U.S. Department of Agriculture programs that have already cost the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York about 1 million pounds of food, or 750,000 meals, CEO Tom Nardacci said.

"Lines at pantries are longer than ever," Nardacci said. "People are afraid of what’s next. They‘re afraid they’re going to lose their health care. They're afraid they’re not going to have tomorrow’s meal."

Rev. Dustin Longmire of the Messiah Lutheran Church of Rotterdam said about 150 people recently came for assistance at its pantry, which used to serve about 35 each week about a year ago.

“We are already in one of the worst food-affordability crises since the Great Depression," he said. "These cuts are just going to make it so much worse."

He called SNAP a critical program that needs protection.

No Kid Hungry New York Director Rachel Sabella released a statement calling on the House Agriculture Committee to reject the cuts.

"Regardless of how Congressional leaders want to frame their proposed cuts to SNAP, the reality is clear: a vote for this bill will result in more kids facing hunger - in every county, in every community and zip code in New York," Sabella said in a statement.

Schumer on Monday later stopped at a FeedMore WNY warehouse in Buffalo, where he addressed the issue of food insecurity with local civic and religious leaders. FeedMore delivers food to hundreds of food pantries and soup kitchens across the area.

"Providing nutritional assistance is not a handout, it’s a hand up" because it allows people to achieve their full potential, said Collin Bishop, chief communications officer for FeedMore WNY.

Last year, FeedMore received $14.9 million in federal funding, but is losing, or may lose, nearly $6 million of that this year, Bishop said. The organization assisted 165,000 people in 2024, a 16% increase from the previous year and a 46% jump over the last three years, he said.

"SNAP is the first line of defense for people who are nutritionally insecure," Bishop said. The program works with others to provide a safety net against hunger, he added.

Schumer urged New Yorkers to contact Republican House members from New York and demand they block what he said was the largest cut to SNAP in the program's history.

"We're on the precipice of what is a real catastrophe," he said.

Natasha Pernicka, executive director of the Food Pantries for the Capital District, said in addition to feeding those who need food, SNAP has a big economic impact, contributing $1.50 in communities for every $1 spent. 

"This is the United States of America. So I want to ask you, who deserves to eat? We all do," Pernicka said.