Outside the Beltway

In Front of Our Noses: Canceling the Annual Report on Hunger

Reality is easier to ignore if you just pretend it isn't there.

· Sunday, September 21, 2025 · 4 comments

Soucre: Official White House Photo (first term)

“To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.”-George Orwell.

For previous entries, click here.

Via the AP: After cuts to food stamps, Trump administration ends government’s annual report on hunger in America.

The Trump administration is ending the federal government’s annual report on hunger in America, stating that it had become “overly politicized” and “rife with inaccuracies.”

The decision comes two and a half months after President Donald Trump signed legislation sharply reducing food aid to the poor. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the tax and spending cuts bill Republicans muscled through Congress in July means 3 million people would not qualify for food stamps, also known as SNAP benefits.

Trying to create the illusion of the reality the leader wants, rather than facing that reality, is a hallmark of dictatorial government.

Here’s an idea: if there are actual accuracy problems, why not just fix them versus canceling a data-gathering tool?

FILED UNDER: In Front of Our Noses, Social Safety Net, Society, US Politics, , , ,
Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter and/or BlueSky.

Comments

  1. Kingdaddy says:
    Sunday, 21 September 2025 at 11:01

    Here’s an idea: if there are actual accuracy problems, why not just fix them versus canceling a data-gathering tool?

    Because they’re cruel, stupid people who take every opportunity to punch down on anyone they consider to be their lessers?

    12
  2. Scott says:
    Sunday, 21 September 2025 at 11:17

    Coincidentally, one of the readings from today’s service:

    Amos 8:4-7

    Hear this, you that trample on the needy,
    and bring to ruin the poor of the land,
    saying, ‘When will the new moon be over
    so that we may sell grain;
    and the sabbath,
    so that we may offer wheat for sale?
    We will make the ephah small and the shekel great,
    and practise deceit with false balances,
    buying the poor for silver
    and the needy for a pair of sandals,
    and selling the sweepings of the wheat.’

    The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
    Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.

    A more modern interpretation:

    Listen to this, you who walk all over the weak, you who treat poor people as less than nothing, Who say, “When’s my next paycheck coming so I can go out and live it up? How long till the weekend when I can go out and have a good time?” Who give little and take much, and never do an honest day’s work. You exploit the poor, using them— and then, when they’re used up, you discard them. GOD swears against the arrogance of Jacob: “I’m keeping track of their every last sin.” God’s oath will shake earth’s foundations, dissolve the whole world into tears. God’s oath will sweep in like a river that rises, flooding houses and lands, And then recedes, leaving behind a sea of mud.

    One day there will be a conversation of the Christian heresy called Prosperity Gospel.

    9
  3. Moosebreath says:
    Sunday, 21 September 2025 at 12:13

    “Trying to create the illusion of the reality the leader wants, rather than facing that reality, is a hallmark of dictatorial government.”

    Remarkably like how Trump didn’t want to have statistics of the number of COVID deaths in the spring of 2020, so people would think it was going away.

    5
  4. becca says:
    Sunday, 21 September 2025 at 12:41

    @Scott: Trump really ushered in the Age of Avarice. The GOP now follow the pirate code…
    Take all you can and give nothing back.

    2

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