This report uses preliminary data from USDA's Food and Nutrition Service to examine trends in U.S. food and nutrition assistance programs through fiscal year 2019. It also highlights two recent ERS reports: one on household food insecurity in the United States in 2018 and another on the multiplier effect of increasing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) administers 15 domestic food and nutrition assistance programs that affect the lives of millions of people and account for roughly two-thirds of USDA's annual budget. In response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, USDA launched additional temporary programs and implemented numerous policy changes that expanded the scope and coverage of existing programs. Together, these programs contributed to $183 billion in spending on food and nutrition assistance programs in fiscal year (FY) 2022 (October 1, 2021-September 30, 2022). This report uses preliminary data from USDA, Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) to examine program trends and policy changes in USDA's largest U.S. food and nutrition assistance programs through FY 2022. It also summarizes a recent USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS) report examining the prevalence of household food insecurity in the United States in 2021 and another USDA, ERS report examining changes in food choices in the USDA Foods program.

Expenditures for USDA's 15 food assistance programs totaled $46 billion in fiscal 2004 (October 1, 2003, to September 30, 2004), marking the second consecutive year in which spending exceeded the previous record high. The fiscal 2004 spending level represented a 10-percent increase from the previous fiscal year, the fourth consecutive year in which total food assistance expenditures increased. Five programs - the Food Stamp Program, the National School Lunch Program, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), the School Breakfast Program, and the Child and Adult Care Food Program - accounted for 94 percent of USDA's total expenditures for food assistance. While each of these major programs expanded during fiscal 2004, most of the increase in total food assistance expenditures between fiscal 2003 and fiscal 2004 was due to the increase in Food Stamp Program expenditures.

About 1 in 4 Americans participates in at least 1 of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) 15 domestic food and nutrition assistance programs at some point during the year. Together these programs, which vary by size, type of bene ts provided, and target population, form a nutritional safety net for millions of children and low-income adults. These programs account for over 70 percent of USDA's annual budget. USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS) conducts studies and evaluations of these programs. This report uses preliminary administrative data from USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), the agency responsible for managing the programs, to examine trends in the food and nutrition assistance programs through scal 2013 (October 1, 2012 to September 30, 2013). The report uses ERS data to examine trends in the prevalence and severity of household food insecurity in the United States through 2012 and summarizes two recent ERS reports that examine the food security of two subpopulations of particular concern: (1) adults with disabilities and (2) households with children. The report also looks at trends in some of the indicators of economic and social conditions that affect participation in and spending on food and nutrition assistance programs.

This report uses preliminary data from USDA's Food and Nutrition Service to examine trends in U.S. food and nutrition assistance programs through fiscal 2017. It also summarizes two recent ERS reports: one on trends in the prevalence and severity of U.S. household food insecurity through 2016 and another on the contribution of SNAP benefits to household food spending.

This report examines trends in USDA's food and nutrition assistance programs through fiscal 2009. It also discusses a recent ERS report that examines the prevalence, severity, and characteristics of food insecurity in households with children.