The U.S. Department of Agriculture wants to cut down on the number of people who get food from SNAP benefits, which could affect more than 3 million people.

Locally, 65,000 people needed the program in April.

The argument for the cuts is that there is a loophole in the law that allows access to people who might not need it.

About 72 percent of the people served by the Food Bank of Central New York get federal food benefits. Workers say the changes to the program will affect so many people in this area.

"So we know that anytime that there are changes to that and folks are seeing a decrease in their benefits, or decrease in access, their need for food assistance doesn't decrease simultaneously,” said Food Bank of Central New York Government Relations Director Rebecca Lare. “So they still need to access our network for assistance."

The government proposal is open to public comment for 60 days.