The Latest Casualty of Trump’s War on Data Is a Critical Hunger Report

The increase between 2021 and 2023 coincided with the expiration of several pandemic-era programs that provided additional support to low-income households, such as an enhanced child tax credit and emergency allotments for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, which temporarily increased benefit amounts. The comparatively low levels of food insecurity in 2020 and 2021 could be seen as evidence that immediate government interventions in the wake of the pandemic were effective in assisting needy Americans.

The USDA’s assessment of the report as failing “to present anything more than subjective, liberal fodder” has shocked the research community that has relied on this data for years. Waxman also challenged the assertion that this data is redundant, noting that food insecurity is tied to, but not necessarily representative of, a family’s poverty level. Lower-income households may report that they are food secure because they qualify for benefits like SNAP, while middle-income Americans may be struggling to obtain enough to eat because they do not receive any assistance.

“There are a lot of things besides just income that can drive food insecurity, things like low assets or negative assets, disability, poor mental health, lack of a social network, [and] income volatility within the year,” said Waxman. Food insecurity is also correlated with several health issues, such as diabetes and heart disease—issues that a presidential administration concerned with the state of Americans’ health would ostensibly find useful in measuring.