Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York on Friday said he had made a deal with President Trump to give bodegas and other U.S. retailers more time to increase their stock of fresh meat and vegetables to stay in the federal food stamp program.
New ruleswhich originally took effect on Nov. 4, require retailers to stock at least seven varieties of food staples in several categories, such as meat, dairy, grains and vegetables. The rules also set a minimum requirement for the amount of fresh food sold. Stores that did not comply would lose authorization to accept food stamps and would have to wait six months to reapply.
Mr. Mamdani said on Friday that small businesses nationwide would have another 90 days to meet the requirements.
The deal comes after Mr. Mamdani wrote a letter this month to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins asking for a six-month delay. The mayor said that thousands of bodegas and corner stores in New York City depend on revenue from customers who receive benefits through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and that losing SNAP authorization could put those stores out of business.
“We share U.S.D.A.’s goal of improving the quality and variety of food available to SNAP participants,” he wrote. “But a policy designed to expand access to nutritious food must not inadvertently make that food harder to obtain.”
The mayor noted that the Agriculture Department, which oversees SNAP, did not issue guidance on the new requirements until Sept. 4, and said that many of the affected stores were struggling to comply in time. A group of 12 Senate Republicans asked the department for a similar six-month implementation delay on Sept. 29.
Source: www.nytimes.com
