Brooklyn food bank and pantry operators, along with civic leaders, on Monday stressed the urgent need for Washington lawmakers to avoid policies that push Americans into hunger amid an ongoing affordability crisis.

Speaking at St. John's Bread & Life , a food pantry in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Leslie Gordon, president and chief executive officer of Food Bank for New York City , said residents are "frightened."

She said New York parents are choosing to first pay their rent, then feed their children, and often do not have food left over for themselves.

"What we know and what we hear from them on a regular basis is that they're frightened," Gordon said. "They're frustrated, they're challenged, they're struggling. And here in one of the richest cities in the world, that just shouldn't be."

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