New York State Senator Dean Murray sent a message to taxpayers across the South Shore to clear up any potential confusion concerning proposed freezes and reductions in federal spending.
Here is his full statement:
I'm here today to speak to you to clear up a little bit of confusion.
Over the last couple of days, the Trump administration and the federal government has announced that they are freezing some funding to certain programs.
Unfortunately, the media has kind of stirred up a little scare there by mentioning some programs that are not going to be affected.
One in particular, SNAP benefits, or as they were referred to in the past, food stamp program. These are not going to be affected. We've received a lot of phone calls since this announcement came out. Again, people concerned that they may lose some of their benefits.
That is not going to happen. I've spent the last 24 hours on the phone with several top-level officials on the federal side as well as on the state side, including the commissioner of the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, Commissioner Gwynne.
She assured me we went back and forth getting information, and in fact, getting information from the Executive Office of the President and the Office of Management and Budget. I will read from a memo that was provided to me from them.
Question, is this a freeze on all federal financial assistance? The answer, no.
The pause does not apply across the board. It is expressly limited to programs, projects, and activities implicated by the president's executive orders, such as ending DEI, the New Green Deal, and funding non-governmental organizations that undermine the national interest. Question, is this freeze on benefits to Americans like SNAP or student loans?
Answer, no. Any program that provides direct benefits to Americans is explicitly excluded from the pause and exempted from this review process.
So please be rest assured, if you are receiving some sort of aid, some sort of benefits, they will continue to not believe some of the hype that you've been hearing. We've been on this from the minute this came out. Rest assured we will continue to monitor this, but as of now, the word is, you are fine.
I'll always be here to bring you the information as clearly and as helpfully as I can. So thank you.