300,000 New Yorkers Could Lose Food-Stamp Benefits After Trump’s Cuts

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 300,000 New Yorkers Could Lose Food-Stamp Benefits After Trump’s Cuts

The president’s sweeping new law includes work requirements for more people and less coverage for some noncitizens. Republicans argue the cuts are needed to tackle waste and fraud.

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About three million New Yorkers rely on food stamps, which are accepted through Electronic Benefits Transfer, or EBT, cards in many bodegas and grocery stores.Credit...Scott Heins/Getty Images

By Sarah Maslin Nir

July 11, 2025, 3:00 a.m. ET

If it weren’t for the pocket change or occasional slice of pizza that strangers give Jessica Garcia as she begs beside the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan, she said she would go hungry. Many days, she still does.

Social workers have encouraged her to apply for food stamps. It would be a more reliable way to feed herself. But this week she learned of a rising barrier: President Trump’s sweeping new law that slashes social safety net programs will require homeless people to prove they are volunteering, working or trying to find a job to receive food benefits.

“How is that possible if you are homeless, have nothing to wear, nowhere to shower, have no paperwork on us?” Ms. Garcia, 40, said. “How is that supposed to happen?”

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