Trump administration ends annual U.S. hunger report

The federal government is ending its annual report on hunger in America because it allegedly has become "overly politicized" and "rife with inaccuracies," according to the Trump administration.

The decision to scrap the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Household Food Security Report was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

What they're saying:

In a news release from the USDA, the Agriculture Department said the annual survey was ‘costly, politicized, and extraneous studies do nothing more than fear monger."

The USDA said it will continue to "prioritize statutory requirements and where necessary, use the bevy of more timely and accurate data sets available to it." 

Last hunger in America report

What's next:

In a press release Saturday, the USDA said the 2024 report, to be released Oct. 22, would be the last.

"The questions used to collect the data are entirely subjective and do not present an accurate picture of actual food security,'' the USDA said. "The data is rife with inaccuracies slanted to create a narrative that is not representative of what is actually happening in the countryside as we are currently experiencing lower poverty rates, increasing wages, and job growth under the Trump Administration.''

Food insecurity in the US

By the numbers:

In 2023, 86.5% of U.S. households felt they had food security, while 13.5% said they didn’t, according to the USDA.

The percentage of households that were experiencing food insecurity was up compared to 12.8% in 2022. 

Spending cuts

Big picture view:

The decision comes two and a half months after President Donald Trump signed legislation sharply reducing food aid to the poor.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the tax and spending cuts bill Republicans muscled through Congress in July means 3 million people would not qualify for food stamps, also known as SNAP benefits.

The other side: Critics were quick to accuse the administration of deliberately making it harder to measure hunger and assess the impact of its cuts to food stamps.

"Trump is cancelling an annual government survey that measures hunger in America, rather than allow it to show hunger increasing under his tenure," Bobby Kogan, senior director of federal budget policy at the left-leaning Center for American Progress, said on social media. "This follows the playbook of many non-democracies that cancel or manipulate reports that would otherwise show less-than-perfect news."