Food insecurity in America.
Those are four words that one wouldn’t think would be strung together.
But there they are.
And it’s true.
In 2023, 13.5% of American households were food insecure during the year (up from 12.8% in 2022) (Rabbitt et al., 2024).
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), there is no data newer than 2023, because the Trump Administration terminated the Household Food Security survey, labeling it as “liberal fodder” (USDA, 2025).
However, just because you discontinue a method to obtain quantifiable data, does not mean the issue magically disappears.
In fact, based on the trajectory from previous reports, one could assume that not only does the problem exist, but it is continuing to worsen.
Almost 30 years ago, the Clinton Administration introduced this survey, and subsequent report to gauge the status of the American citizens with respect to food security. The report of the findings would provide policymakers with relatively objective data to help them enact legislation that would assist some of the country’s most vulnerable people (Datz, 2025).
This protocol has survived numerous presidential administrations, both Republican and Democrat, so what changed?
Enter Donald Trump and Project 2025.
Project 2025 is the 900+ page Conservative manifesto that was drafted by former staffers of Trump’s first administration and published and disseminated by the Heritage Foundation. Its purpose was to act as a blueprint for Trump’s second administration (Dans & Groves, 2023).
The tome recommends reforming the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Women, Infants, and Children Food Program (WIC), re-evaluating the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP), which is a calculation of the lowest cost that nutritious groceries would be for a family of four (USDA, 2021), and restructuring free school meals for students attending grades K-12 (Dans & Groves, 2023).
Less than six months after Trump was inaugurated for his second term, the Big Beautiful Bill was signed into law (Big Beautiful Bill Act, 2025).
Among other things not discussed in this blog entry, the bill (Big Beautiful Bill Act, 2025):
- Implemented the largest funding cut to SNAP in the program’s history
- Indirectly affected WIC recipients by amending SNAP and Medicaid eligibility
- Restricted further adjustments to the TFP, essentially fixing prices at the 2022 rate, and not allowing for inflation or cost of living increases
- Reduced access to free school meals for K-12 students
Is this what déjà vu feels like?
Assistance through SNAP has been shown to lift millions of people out of poverty, and is the third most beneficial government program, behind Social Security and Earned Income Tax Credits, to do so (Nestle, 2019).
Still, this administration is so keen on destroying it, and they’re succeeding.
Thankfully, there are organizations like Feeding America, the largest network of food banks in the United States. Last year, the organization was able to distribute nearly six billion meals in communities throughout the country, as well as helped advocate for those who were afflicted by food insecurity (Feeding America, 2026).
What can we do?
That is not a hypothetical question; it’s genuine.
In these almost pseudo-dystopian times that we are living in… what can we do?
I guess we can vote.
While we still can.
While it still means something.
I’m not delusional and think that all legislators will empathize with the plight of the food insecure, but I’m almost certain that they want to keep their jobs, and their perks, and their awesome government health insurance, and their potential for more Cava bag bribes (Lynch, 2025).
Vote.
References
Dans, P., & Groves, S. (Eds.). (2023). Mandate for leadership: The conservative promise. The Heritage Foundation.
Datz, T. (2025, October 16). Cancellation of food insecurity survey a blog to understanding hunger in U.S. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. https://hsph.harvard.edu/news/cancellation-of-food-insecurity-survey-a-blow-to-understanding-hunger-in-u-s/#:~:text=A:%20The%20USDA%20Household%20Food%20Security%20Report,all%20members%20due%20to%20limited%20financial%20resources.
Feeding America. (2026). Our work. https://www.feedingamerica.org/our-work
Lynch, S. N. (2025, September 22). Trump aide Homan accepted $50,000 in bribery sting operation, sources say. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-aide-homan-accepted-50000-bribery-sting-operation-sources-say-2025-09-21/
Nestle, M. (2019). The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): History, politics, and public health implications. American Journal of Public Health, 109(12), 1631-1635. https://doi.org/gnk8mh
One Big Beautiful Bill Act, H.R. 1, 119th Cong. (2025). https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1
Rabbitt, M. P., Reed-Jones, M., Hales, L. J., & Burke, M. P. (2024). Household food security in the United States in 2023. United States Department of Agriculture. https://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/pub-details?pubid=109895
United States Department of Agriculture. (2021, August 12). The Thrifty Food Plan: What it is and why it matters. USDA Blog. https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/news/blog/thrifty-food-plan-what-it-and-why-it-matters
United States Department of Agriculture. (2025, September 20). USDA terminates redundant food insecurity survey [Press release]. https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/news/press-releases/2025/09/20/usda-terminates-redundant-food-insecurity-survey
Thank you for presenting many of the actors and institutions at the policy table related to food security in the United States. As you consider some of the policymaking bodies that are actively directing overseeing the agencies that administer programs like SNAP, which are some of the key committees and agencies directing programmatic policies and funding?