{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.warnock.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warnock-grills-trump-nom-who-called-food-bank-funding-a-slush-fund/", "Warnock Grills Trump Nom Who Called Food Bank Funding a \u201cSlush Fund\u201d", "2025-10-30", "2025", "2025-10", "Democrat", "Senate", "GA", "Raphael G. Warnock", "W000790", "www.warnock.senate.gov", "warnock", "https://www.warnock.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/", "scraper", "Today, Senator Reverend Warnock grilled Trump Administration nominee about his involvement in the Trump Administration\u2019s decision to cancel $500 million of funding for food banks in March 2025\n\nTrump Administration nominee did not recall referring to that now-eliminated funding as a \u201cslush fund\u201d\n\nThe Atlanta Community Food Bank, who was directly impacted by the $500 million cut, told Axios the organization is now helping 70% more people than it was three years ago due to the rising cost of living\n\nWATCH THE FULL EXCHANGE\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) grilled U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Inspector General nominee John Walk about his May 2025 letter to Senator Warnock, which he called now-eliminated federal food bank funding a \u201cslush fund.\u201d Mr. Walk said he had no recollection of referring to this life-saving funding as a \u201cslush fund.\u201d\n\nPrior to this nomination, Mr. Walk served as Acting Deputy Under Secretary for the Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services when the Administration made the decision to cut $500 million from food banks. That included 2 million gallons of milk, 27 million pounds of chicken, 67 million eggs, and 10 million pounds of dried fruit that was set to go to millions of American children and families. Mr. Walk said he was not involved in the elimination of $500 million in food bank funding, but inexplicably was one of the leading voices at USDA defending the decision to members of Congress.\n\n\u201cMr. Walk, do you still stand by your categorization of the emergency food assistance program as a quote slush fund?\u201d Senator Reverend Warnock asked Mr. Walk.\u201cYou\u2019re not aware of your own letter? That\u2019s a pretty serious accusation that funds intended to go to food banks to support hungry people is a slush fund. Food banks in Georgia disagree with that characterization, I\u2019ll tell you that. And they tell me that canceling this federal support has made it harder to feed hungry Georgians, and has meant that more families and children in Georgia go hungry.\u201d\n\nThe Senator continued to question Mr. Walk on the Trump Administration\u2019s current decision to cut off Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funding for 42 million Americans next month despite having ample funds to continue the life-saving program. The nominee dodged questions on the $5 billion available to fund SNAP that the Trump Administration is choosing to not use.\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re deciding to pit hungry people against sick people, and I think that\u2019s immoral,\u201d continued Senator Warnock.\u201cThere\u2019s nothing legally stopping the administration from making emergency food assistance funds that they\u2019re just sitting on available for Georgia kids and families in November\u2026 It is indisputable that the USDA under the Trump Administration is choosing to pull hungry children into this fight. They\u2019re not just in this fight. They\u2019re being pulled into this fight, used as pawns for short-term political gain. I think it\u2019s deeply immoral, and I think we can certainly do better than that.\u201d\n\nSenator Warnock is a champion for SNAP, which helps families afford groceries. The Senator, along with Senator Ossoff, recently signed onto a new oversight effort urging USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins to release the billions of dollars at its disposal to ensure SNAP benefits continue in November.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:32:54Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.warnock.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warnock-grills-trump-nom-who-called-food-bank-funding-a-slush-fund/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.1190320365130901, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}