Trump administration claims food aid fraud but critics say ‘there’s no evidence’

“It’s possible they believe that all these people are fraud, but I think they just really want to dismantle these programs, and I think they’re using fraud as an excuse, to be quite honest,” said Nuñez. “This is a program that somewhere, depending on the year, between 16% to 19% of all households in the United States rely on in some way. And they’re basically claiming that it’s rife with fraud and corruption and so forth and there’s just really no evidence to suggest that.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/04/trump-administration-snap-food-aid

 

After Trump Cuts to Kenya Food Aid, Children Died of Starvation — ProPublica

They began to starve, and many — mostly children — died because their malnourished bodies couldn't fight off infections, ProPublica found while reporting in the camp. Mothers had to choose which of their kids to feed. Young men took to the streets in protests, some of which devolved into violent riots. Pregnant women with life-threatening anemia were so desperate for calories that they ate mud. Out of options and mortally afraid, refugees began fleeing the camp by foot and in overcramped cars, threatening a new migration crisis on the continent. They said they'd rather risk being shot or dying on the perilous route than slowly starving in Kakuma...

https://www.propublica.org/article/kenya-trump-usaid-world-food-program-starvation-children-deaths 

 

Slotkin lays out changes to taxes, Medicaid and food assistance programs at Tuesday town hall • Michigan Advance

As the new tax and spending policy brings changes to several government programs from Medicaid to student loans and food assistance benefits, U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) hosted a tele-town hall Tuesday night to break down the impacts Michiganders can expect to see from the law. 

"This bill will affect pretty much every single person listening in one way or another," Slotkin noted, before breaking down the law's changes to health care…

https://michiganadvance.com/2025/07/16/slotkin-lays-out-changes-to-taxes-medicaid-and-food-assistance-programs-at-tuesday-town-hall/

 

As GOP Targets Food Aid, House Dems Remind McCarthy of $1.9 Trillion in Trump Tax Cuts

"In tax cuts in 2017 passed by the other side of the aisle, we see wonderful tax cuts for yacht owners and private jets," said Ocasio-Cortez. "But in order to balance our budget now, we're talking about cuts to SNAP, to food out of babies' mouths, instead of actually reexamining the inequities within our tax system."… 

"The McCarthy proposal," they wrote, "also resurfaces a completely inaccurate but alarmingly persistent conservative claim: the idea that government anti-poverty programs are unnecessarily generous, bloated, and are keeping people out of the workforce who should otherwise be supporting themselves entirely through income earned in the labor market."…

https://www.commondreams.org/news/house-dems-remind-gop-mccarthy-1-9-trillion-trump-tax-cuts

The Trump Administration Used Its Food Aid Program for Political Gain, Congressional Investigators Find — ProPublica

"The Program was marred by a structure that prioritized industry over families, by contracting practices that prioritized cutting corners over competence, and by decisions that prioritized politics over the public good," he said...

https://www.propublica.org/article/the-trump-administration-used-its-food-aid-program-for-political-gain-congressional-investigators-find