The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on Sept. 20 that it is ending the longstanding annual food insecurity survey, which informs funding levels for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the federal food stamp program. The Trump administration said it canceled the survey because it is “redundant, politicized, and costly,” the USDA stated. The final report will be published in October 2025 using data collected in 2024.
“For 30 years, this study — initially created by the Clinton administration as a means to support the increase of SNAP eligibility and benefit allotment — failed to present anything more than subjective, ‘Trends in the prevalence of food insecurity have remained virtually unchanged, regardless of an over 87 percent increase in SNAP spending between 2019–2023,’” the USDA statement continued.
The annual report, titled Household Food Security in the United States, used data from the Food Security Supplement (FSS) and the Current Population Survey (CPS), a national survey sponsored by the USDA’s Economic Research Service (USDA-ERS). In fiscal year 2024, an average of 5.38 million people received SNAP benefits in California, equivalent to about 13.6 percent of the state’s 40 million residents.
SNAP, called CalFresh in California, is the nation’s largest food assistance program addressing food insecurity among low-income individuals and families. In 2023, almost 45 percent of adults in California struggled to afford food. Between 2023 and 2024, California administered a total of $12 billion to CalFresh recipients, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO).
U.S. Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA-43) posted a video on her X account sharply criticizing former President Donald Trump’s proposed budget. Waters called the spending plan a “big, ugly bill,” warning that it would strip healthcare from 17 million Americans and push approximately 12 million people into hunger. “We won’t sit quietly while Republicans starve our people to feed the rich,” Waters stated in the video.
Following the USDA’s elimination of the annual food survey, Mauricio Torres, communications director for the California Budget and Policy Center (Budget Center), called the move “deeply disappointing.”
The Budget Center is a nonprofit research and analysis organization that focuses on how state budget and policy decisions affect low- and middle-income residents. It has been providing independent analysis and accessible information on state fiscal matters since 1995.
In recent years, the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has stopped publishing the number of CalFresh Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) recipients by race and ethnicity. As a result, the exact number of Black Californians receiving EBT benefits is not publicly available. EBT is the system used to issue food assistance through CalFresh, as well as cash aid. The EBT card, officially called the “Golden State Advantage” card, works like a debit card.
“Eliminating this data source allows the Trump administration to dodge responsibility for policy decisions that increase suffering and will hinder the ability to quantify and address those effects,” Torres stated.
According to the Budget Center, policy changes in H.R. 1, signed into law by Trump in July, will impact over five million recipients of CalFresh benefits. By October 2027, an estimated loss in federal funds to California could reach up to $2 billion annually.