Last month, the Trump administration ended the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s annual hunger survey, claiming it was “overly politicized.”
There are other ways that the administration is restricting important information about hunger and food insecurity, according to Project Bread, a Massachusetts nonprofit that connects people and communities with sources of food and also advocates for public policy.
What Has Been Happening
When any organization changes the amounts and types of available data, there is a good reason to ask why. Last month, the Trump administration cancelled an annual survey that, since the mid-1990s, has given insight every December into how people in the country managed if they couldn’t get enough food, with measurements by state and demographic group.
It was another example of sweeping problems under the rug by the feds. However, hiding doesn’t make problems go away. Instead, it makes them worse, like not paying attention to warnings from a doctor or a mechanic and waiting to see what happens.
But the disassembly of the annual report is only the beginning. I spoke with Project Bread Senior Director of Research and Evaluation Laura Siller, Ph.D. about other problems she has seen.
The loss of data isn’t a problem of theory. “Without the data, we can’t see how the changes will affect state-level food insecurity,” Siller said, who estimated that about 40,000 people in Boston could potentially lose eligibility to SNAP, the major successful anti-hunger program in the nation.
Other Data Suppression
Siller gave multiple other examples, like the Household Pulse Survey. The HPS is a Census Bureau program that started in April 2020 during the pandemic. It offered a regular look at U.S. households on a timely basis, not with data that can be a quarter or far more behind. The study offers insight into housing, employment, health, and education.
Starting in October 2024, it changed to data collection every other month, trading between HPS-type content and other topics submitted by Census partners. The latest data appeared on the Census website for February 21 through March 7. “It’s possible that they’ve collected data and not released it,” Siller said. The program was originally experimental, but to have it completely disappear after February without any comment is unusual as the Office of Management and Budget cleared continuation of the program this year.
In March, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick disbanded three Census Bureau external advisory group: the Census Scientific Advisory Committee; National Advisory Committee on Race, Ethnic, and Other Populations; and 2030 Census Advisory Committee. The Federal News Network reported that the “community surrounding the Census Bureau is concerned.” It’s similar to the removal or replacement of advisory committees to other parts of government.
Undermining Data Collection
According to The Census Project, a provision of the House appropriations committee passed something called Section 605 in September, which could limit the Census Bureau’s ability to thoroughly collect necessary data. It read, “None of the funds in this Act may be used to enforce involuntary compliance, or to inquire more than twice for voluntary compliance with any survey conducted by the Bureau of the Census.”
This could cut response rates, and should that happen, the mathematical basis of sampling the Census depends on for such studies would start being undermined. The organization said that the American Community Survey and Current Population Survey (the latter produces the unemployment rate) usually need 2.5 to 3 follow-up contacts to get reliable results. The data is critical for government, businesses, investors, and others to make intelligent decisions.
In April, Trump’s Health and Human Services department eliminated the office that set poverty levels that help set benefit levels for at least 80 million people, KFF Health News reported at the time.
The administration removed thousands of datasets and public health webpages early this year, with a court requiring the restoration of data, as KFF reported.
All this is part of a clear pattern the administration has demonstrated.
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