With inflation soaring, SNAP benefits getting cut, and the cost of groceries getting even higher, Senator Kristen Gillibrand stopped at Utica to speak about the impact its had on families.
Gillibrand, D-NY, held a press conference on July 17 at Bargain Grocery in Utica, where she and staff talked food costs.
Bargain Grocery is a non-profit grocery store operated by the Compassion Coalition that provides affordable groceries that sees 250,000 annual transactions.
Compassion Coalition Founder and Executive Director Mike Servello said that food accessibility is and should be a non-partisan issue.
“It’s a people issue,” Servello added.
The country is experiencing a cost-of-living crisis
Gillibrand said that the country is experiencing a cost-of-living crisis and that her office has heard, every day, that people are making choices between putting food on the table and other needed expenses.
“They’re constantly making decisions between buying groceries or medicine. Or heating or cooling their home. Or filling up their gas tank,” Gillibrand said. “But the cost of everything seems to grow.”
Gillibrand quickly set sights on President Donald Trump, saying that the president has made “…multiple decisions that have made this affordability crisis even worse.”
Top of the senator’s list of grievances was the war in Iran, including the Strait of Hormuz, which at time of writing, remains closed. Due to this closure, the price of oil has increased and has but burdens on farmers who buy their fuel in bulk ahead of time and are now facing massive price increases.
Trucking costs from Utica to New York City have also increased by almost doubled from $1,500 to $3,000, according to the senator.
“His tariffs are causing chaos when it comes to supply chains for everyday goods like the ones here in this grocery store,” Gillibrand said. “Between the war and massive tariffs, inflation has skyrocketed. It’s risen over 4% over the last year alone and makes it the sharpest 12 month increase in years and it’s wreaking havoc.”
Who absorbs the cost?
Gillibrand said families are finding it harder to afford food and according to Servello, more families are using credit cards to pay for groceries.
“Our local grocers can’t stay afloat if they eat these costs, so the cost is passed on to shoppers. At the same time, wages haven’t increased, which means shoppers have less and less purchasing power,” Gillibrand said. “Higher prices and lower wages spells disaster for our working families.”
Gillibrand called on the president to end his “chaotic conflicts” and shift his focus back onto the American people.
However, the senator pointed out that the president’s “Big Beautiful Bill” cut SNAP benefits, which has only made the affordability issue worse.
“Those benefits go to children, seniors, first responders, service members, and some of our most hard-working at-risk people in our communities who deserve to access to good, quality food,” Gillibrand.
Questioned on Trump’s election speech
When asked for her reaction to the president’s election claims made at his speech on July 16, Gillibrand said President Trump was “delusional” and fixated on past elections.
“We should be focused on how we’re going to have election security this mid-term when he’s discontinued all the departments that are supposed to stop foreign intervention [in our elections],” Gillibrand said. “He fired everyone at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, he fired everybody who was doing this at the FBI, and he fired everyone who was doing this at the DOD.”
“It’s highly problematic that [the President] thinks the only answer is the SAVE act,” the senator continued. “But the SAVE Act will disenfranchise voters around the country.”
The SAVE Act, Gillibrand said, requires voters to present a passport to vote — something 50% of Americans don’t have. Additionally, anyone who has had a name change, such as people who took their spouse’s last name, will be required to have their birth certificate match their new married name.
For more information on the Compassion Coalition, visit www.distributehope.org/
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Gillibrand talks affordability at Bargain Grocery in Utica
Reporting by Casey Pritchard, Utica Observer Dispatch / Observer-Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Casey Pritchard, Utica Observer Dispatch | USA TODAY Network
