Restore USDA Funding for Food Banks and Schools (UPDATED 9/23)

Updates

September 23, 2025: The USDA announced last Saturday that it will end a longstanding annual survey of food insecurity in the United States, also known as the Food Security Supplement (FSS) to the Current Population Survey, calling it “redundant, costly, politicized, and extraneous.” The elimination of data that measures how many Americans go hungry is obviously an attempt to mask impacts from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, along with the other major program cuts detailed below. The final report, covering 2024, will be delivered on October 22nd.

The Trump administration recently cut federal programs providing over a billion dollars annually to help schools and food banks buy food from local farms and ranches. The USDA has also abruptly and significantly reduced shipments to food banks and food kitchens from The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) without explanation or warning.

In addition to feeding the hungry, these programs also support the local food production economy, especially in more rural areas, and farmers are already being affected.

Food insecurity has been on an upward trajectory in the US, with economic impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic and rising inflation causing hunger rates to climb. The USDA reported 13.5% of Americans experienced food insecurity in 2023, the highest rate in nearly a decade, with hunger levels in rural areas reaching 15.4%.

Some Congressional Democrats have signed on to a letter pushing to restore this funding, but it isn’t enough. Funding for these programs was authorized by Congress under the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act, and should not be redirected or removed without congressional approval.