WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Saturday announced the termination of future Household Food Security Reports, ending a decades-long effort to track how many Americans struggle to access enough food.
"These redundant, costly, politicized, and extraneous studies do nothing more than fear monger," the USDA said in a press release. "For 30 years ... this study failed to present anything more than subjective, liberal fodder."
The report has been released annually since the mid-1990s, with its data being extensively used by federal, state, and local policymakers to guide funding decisions for food-assistance programs and assess their effectiveness.
The decision came after U.S. President Donald Trump's "big beautiful" bill in July significantly cut funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, which provides food benefits to low-income families to supplement their grocery budget.
Some 2.4 million fewer Americans, including families with children, are forecast to receive food stamps benefits after the funding cuts, according to the Congressional Budget Office. ■
