Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, says Americans are facing a "food insecurity crisis." In an Oct. 21 letter to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, she said families have absorbed an added $22 billion in food costs from rising inflation and food-stamp cuts 1.
Food stamps are formally the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Warren called the mix of higher prices and benefit cuts a "one-two punch" for millions of households 1.
What Warren is asking for
Warren asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to work with lawmakers to reverse SNAP policies. She says those policies have caused 5.2 million people to lose benefits since July 2025 1. SNAP enrollment is now at its lowest level since 2019, and anti-hunger experts say it could shrink further as more changes take effect 1.
Her office built what it calls a "food misery index." It adds more than $17.2 billion in higher grocery prices to more than $5.1 billion in lost household SNAP benefits. That is where the $22 billion figure comes from 1. It is Warren's own measure, not a standard government statistic.
My office developed a 'food misery index' to measure how much the combination of rising food prices and declining SNAP participation is costing American households,
The law behind the cuts
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a tax and spending law President Trump signed in 2025, expanded SNAP's work requirements and shifted more of the program's costs onto states. Experts say those changes have made it harder to enroll 1.
Warren also pointed to Mr. Trump's tariffs, which are taxes on imported goods, as a reason food costs are rising. New York Fed research found that higher import duties last year raised U.S. inflation by about 2.9 percentage points through February 1.
Signs of hardship
The USDA stopped its annual food insecurity study in 2025. It called the report "redundant, costly [and] politicized" 1. A May analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found a "remarkable increase in food insecurity, particularly among lower-educated and lower-income households and households with young children" 12.
The New York Fed found that 10% of U.S. families said they did not have enough food and that their children sometimes missed meals. That is more than double the 4% share in 2020. Almost 20% of families earning under $50,000 a year reported not having enough food, up from about 7% six years ago 1.
What happens next
The USDA and the White House did not return a request for comment 1. Changing SNAP policy would require Congress to pass new rules 1. Republicans control the House and Senate, so that looks unlikely before the Nov. 3 election.
Some anti-hunger advocates and state groups are lobbying Congress to delay parts of the law. One is a rule that would make states with high payment error rates absorb billions in added costs starting in October 2027 1.
The USDA does have some room to act, because it is the main federal rule-maker for SNAP 1. The agency let some states bar food-stamp purchases of soda and candy. A federal judge ruled earlier this year that the department exceeded its authority in doing so 1.
That matters because grocery bills hit hardest for people on fixed incomes. The pattern Warren describes is of prices going up while help goes down. Republicans have not yet answered her letter on the record.
The Record
- The period in which, Warren says, 5.2 million people began losing SNAP benefits (count runs from July 2025) 1.
- New York Fed researchers publish an analysis finding a "remarkable increase in food insecurity" among lower-income households and households with young children 2.
- Warren sends a letter to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins asking the USDA to work with Congress to reverse SNAP cuts 1.
Sources
- CBS News, “Warren warns of "food insecurity crisis" from SNAP cuts and prices” (2026-10-22). cbsnews.com/news/elizabeth-warren-snap-cuts-food-insecurity/
- Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Liberty Street Economics, “Food Insecurity and Consumer Pessimism” (2026-05-27). libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2026/05/food-insecurit
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