by Senator Adam Schiff highlighted the agonizing effects of the newly signed budget agreement on Wednesday by taking a tour of the Jacobs and Cushman San Diego Food Bank warehouse.
The Democrat from California highlighted the strain that food banks would be experiencing due to the drastic reductions in SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and other food assistance programs.
Following a 45-minute tour in Miramar conducted by food bank CEO Casey Castillo, Schiff stated, “Our families are going to be impacted, and seeing is believing.” When you look at a box that used to be stuffed full of food and see that it is now much less full due to grant program cuts, it means that families are going to have less food and there will be more hunger.
San Diego County has more small farmers than any other county in the country, Schiff said, adding that local farmers will also be affected.
“We’re concerned about cuts being made to our recipients, but we’re also seeing cuts that are going directly to food banks,” Castillo stated. The government informed the food bank in March that their emergency food aid program, which provided two million pounds of food for the months of April, May, June, and July, would be discontinued.
According to Castillo, that is 26 truckloads. These are high-protein, nutrient-dense foods. Thus, 2 million pounds is equivalent to roughly 1 1/2 million meals. The Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA), which aims to improve the local food system, will be the target of the remaining cuts. In October, that program will conclude. According to the CEO, that amounts to roughly 933 produce crates every week.
According to Castillo, the food bank used that initiative to deliver more than half a million pounds of food last year. In other words, millions of pounds have already been subtracted.
We will need to come up with ways to stretch our dollar if food bank needs significantly expand, Castillo stated. In addition to asking the community for assistance, we will need to use reserves.
Schiff commended the food bank’s work.
I would simply like to express my gratitude to the wonderful volunteers and staff of the San Diego Food Bank for their outstanding work.
Schiff was also questioned about what he wanted to do to the money that was accruing from tariffs that the Trump administration had supported.
To be honest, I would want to see all of the food cuts reinstated. I believe the president was asked what he would do with the money he would receive from these tariffs, and he replied, “Anything I want.”
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The American people would not be pleased with that response. When people are starving, I don’t want to see that money used to construct a $200 million golden ballroom in the White House. According to Schiff, we truly don’t know what the president will do with that.
The president does not have the authority to spend the general treasury whatever he pleases. According to our Constitution, Congress has the authority to spend money. Although Congress has the authority to appropriate funds, many illegal impoundments have occurred.
Thus, we are witnessing a revocation of monies. People are going hungry in the interim, he remarked, even though we contested it in court and they lost.
