Trump Administration Discontinues Key Hunger Report Amid Food Aid Cuts

Tue Sep 30 2025 04:57:29 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will halt the annual Household Food Security Report, a decision criticized for obscuring the realities of hunger and poverty under the current administration.

The Trump administration's decision to end the USDA’s Household Food Security Report, citing it as politicized and inaccurate, raises concerns among critics regarding transparency in hunger metrics amidst significant cuts to food aid and food stamp eligibility. The move follows recent legislation that is estimated to cut food stamp access for millions.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is ending the federal government’s annual report on hunger in America, stating that it had become “overly politicized” and “rife with inaccuracies.”

This decision comes just two and a half months after President Donald Trump signed legislation that sharply reduced food aid for the poor. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the tax and spending cuts bill, pushed through Congress in July, could result in over 3 million people losing access to food stamps, also known as SNAP benefits.

The USDA announced that the 2024 Household Food Security Report, due to be released on October 22, would be the last of its kind. In a press release, the USDA mentioned, “The questions used to collect the data are entirely subjective and do not present an accurate picture of actual food security.” Officials argue that the current trend reflects lower poverty rates, increased wages, and job growth during Trump's tenure.

However, critics were quick to challenge this perspective, accusing the administration of intentionally complicating the measurement of hunger in order to deflect attention from the impacts of its policies on food aid. Bobby Kogan from the Center for American Progress stated on social media, “Trump is cancelling an annual government survey that measures hunger in America, rather than allow it to show hunger increasing under his tenure.”

This move has raised alarms about the lack of transparency in government reporting, particularly as hunger issues intensify amid broader economic concerns.