Federations Cheer Congress For Saving Anti-Poverty Program From Trump Cuts
William Daroff
WASHINGTON (JTA) – Congress maintained funding levels for a poverty assistance program favored by Jewish groups in the face of proposed Trump administration cuts.
A Jewish Federations of North America memo sent Wednesday to JTA and first circulated among member federations May 5 noted that the massive spending bill approved last week includes $120 million for the emergency food and shelter program administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in partnership with faith groups, including the Jewish Federations of North America, or JFNA.
President Donald Trump had proposed cutting $20 million in funding for the program, which assists the working poor.
“We are grateful to Congress for opposing what would have amounted to a devastating cut to a program designed to be fast, flexible and responsive to local needs, and which is lauded by providers as an essential stop-gap measure for families in crisis,” William Daroff, JFNA’s Washington director, said in the memo. “This program fulfills our Jewish communal mandate of providing for the hungry and the homeless.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
