(WENY) -- New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand slammed President Donald Trump for budget cuts that she says will deny food to hungry families and children on Wednesday.

Gillibrand said that last month the president cut $1 billion in federal funding set to be used for food banks, schools, and childcare centers to provide free meals. Now Gillibrand says Trump is cutting another $500 million. Only this time, the money had already been approved through The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP).


In New York alone, Gillibrand says the state could lose roughly $30 million a year that would have gone to soup kitchens and food banks. Recent reports say that as many as one in seven Americans face food insecurity with 50 million people alone needing food assistance in 2023.

"In the richest country in the world and one of our top producers of the world's food, no one should be going hungry," said Senator Gillibrand. "I will keep working with my colleagues in Congress to stand up to the Trump Administration's draconian cuts and I will keep fighting to make sure that our nation's families and communities get the resources they need to move forward."

Along with affecting hungry families and children, Gillibrand said the cuts will also hurt farmers across the country because the funding was set to be used to buy locally grown food to bring to food banks and schools. With funding cuts, the Senator said farmers will no longer have access to these markets.