Gov. Shapiro visits North Philly, sues Trump over food bank cuts

Gov Josh Shapiro came to Philadelphia Wednesday to announce he s suing the federal governing body over canceled funding for local food banks to buy produce from Pennsylvania farmers The governor also broadly criticized the Trump administration during his visit to the Share Food Undertaking warehouse in North Philly describing its actions on sanctuary cities tariffs and other areas as incompetent and destructive These guys don t know how to govern he declared in response to a question about inaccurate sanctuary city lists that the Department of Homeland Protection posted last week and then rapidly took down Over the last four months what has defined the federal regime Absolute total chaos at every level rising prices screwing over farmers shutting down markets for Pennsylvania businesses tariffs that are leading to higher consumer costs and making it much much more tough here at home he revealed Shapiro who is widely seen as a possible future presidential candidate sought to contrast the Trump administration to Pennsylvania which has a politically divided legislature but where we don t have chaos we have calm where we solve problems where we come together and definitely get stuff done he announced Do we get everything done at once No but we work together we compromise The latest of several lawsuits The lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court concerns the federal Local Food Purchasing Assistance project or LFPA which since has paid Share Food Operation and other organizations to buy and distribute produce meat eggs and other products from Pennsylvania farmers Shapiro commented the state signed a new three-year million LFPA contract with the U S Department of Agriculture in December only to receive notice in March that the agency was canceling the deal The funding would have supported farms and food banks Share Food executive director George Matysik noted the agency provides food to more than people per month in the Philadelphia region and the loss of million in expected funding over three years threatens its ability to continue providing all of that assistance We had a deal with the federal governing body President Trump You had a deal with Pennsylvania farmers putting food on our tables You had a deal with food banks serving counties trying to alleviate poverty And above all Mr President you had a deal with the American people and you broke your word Matysik explained at the press conference Shapiro who served as state Attorney General before being elected governor emphasized that the federal cabinet had broken a legal contract He noted that he has already sued the Trump administration a sparse times in the last scant months over attempts to freeze funding to programs in the state and announced he d won every time In February he sued over the federal administration s suspension of billion for environmental projects and other programs which resulted in a court injunction and the unfreezing of the funds I got a pretty good track record when I take Donald Trump to court We re going to win this and we re going to get our money back for the good people of Pennsylvania Shapiro reported A USDA spokesperson reported the agency does not comment on pending litigation and referred questions to the U S Department of Justice No help from GOP lawmakers The governor only decided to sue after trying to work through an official USDA appeal process and reaching out to agency agents State Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding went to Washington and met with USDA staff in a fruitless effort to reverse the contract cancellation he commented During a visit to a Lebanon County farm in April U S Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins argued that Pennsylvania certainly already had federal dollars for farmers that it hadn t spent but Shapiro mentioned that was incorrect the state has to pay the farmers first and only receives the LFPA reimbursement afterward I m not sure if she was misinformed I know she s new at this or if she was just making a whole lot of stuff up but she commented that Pennsylvania was sitting on quote tens of millions of dollars in our food bank That s not true he reported Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding left spoke at a press conference at Share Food Activity with Gov Josh Shapiro June Image via PAcast The governor reported he requested for help from Republican members of Congress who have affected food banks or farms in their districts but they attacked him rather than trying to intervene with the USDA It s easy for me to brush off their nonsense I deal with that every day But it s not easy for hungry people to be fed when their congressman ignores them It s not easy for our farmers to be able to make up that domain share that our congressman made sure was taken away from them Shapiro commented The governor s office says Pennsylvania is one of the minimal states that spends LFPA dollars only on farmers within the state with the goal of directly supporting the local agricultural financial market Shapiro s budget proposal for the fiscal year that starts in July aims to further aid agriculture by boosting funding for the Pennsylvania Agricultural Surplus System and the State Food Purchase Venture SFPP by million each bringing their total state promotion to million However the governor mentioned local materials would not be able to make up for lost federal funds Whether it s LFPA or SNAP or Medicaid or any of the other things the federal regime is cutting right now to make it harder for poor folks to get healthcare or get fed we do not have the ability to backfill that in the state he reported It s on them Those are the decisions they re making in Washington D C right now Deep cuts to nutrition programs proposed The lawsuit comes amid a broader effort by the federal authorities to cut billions of dollars from food and other social amenity programs For example the USDA has advised Share Food Venture that it is also losing an additional million worth of supplies that were supposed to be delivered through the Crisis Food Assistance Venture or TEFAP Matysik has noted previously The U S House reconciliation bill passed last month would cut nearly billion over a decade from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Scheme SNAP including more than billion annually for Pennsylvania Nearly million state residents more than half of them children and seniors benefit from SNAP according to the state Department of Human Services The bill which is likely to change in the Senate would also reduce the number of schools where all students are eligible for free or reduced-price meals and increase food costs for school districts according to U S Rep Mary Gay Scanlon In Philadelphia all populace school students receive free meals under the current federal regulations When we take food away from kids we don t just harm their vitality We hurt their ability to learn to thrive and to succeed in the future Scanlon mentioned at an event at Penrose Elementary School in Southwest Philadelphia on Monday The Republican plan would also expand red tape for work requirements for SNAP recipients end food assistance for immigrant children with lawful immigration status and freeze increases to the Thrifty Food Plan which spells out the cost of a strength diet and helps determine SNAP benefit levels Scanlon announced The post Gov Shapiro visits North Philly sues Trump over food bank cuts appeared first on Billy Penn at WHYY