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Hunger reached its highest point in the United States in nearly a decade last year, with 18 million households, or 13.5%, struggling at some point to secure enough food, a Department of Agriculture report released on Wednesday said. Hunger has been on the rise in the country since 2021, after years of decline. U.S. Census Bureau data last year showed a rise in food insecurity after the end of programs that expanded food aid during the Covid-19 pandemic. The report did not provide an explanation for the increase. (Douglas, 9/4)

Millions of Americans are increasingly experiencing hunger because they live in households that can't afford to sustain proper diets, and a Newsweek map shows where food insecurity is hitting hardest. (Higham, 9/5)

The deadline to replace Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for recipients whose benefits were electronically stolen or skimmed is fast approaching. A September 30, 2024, deadline looms for those who had their benefits stolen between October 1, 2022, and September 30, 2024, to replace their lost benefits. This comes after Congress passed a law in December 2022, hoping to reduce SNAP benefit theft. (Joyce, 9/4)

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP program, has been a major talking point when it comes to negotiating the new Farm Bill. Republicans on the House Committee on Agriculture passed a version of the farm bill that would effectively cut nearly $30 billion in benefits over the next decade. (Bessler, 9/3)

Criticizing the USDA as “a major welfare agency,” the agenda takes issue with the agency’s long-standing nutrition programs that help feed millions of low-income Americans every year, including pregnant women, infants, and K-12 school children. It outlines policies that would substantially cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, and the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). It would also shrink federal support for universal school meal programs. (Moran, 8/28)

With the state now home to the seventh highest share of resident using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, Illinois state Rep. La Shawn Ford is urging lawmakers to do more to aid the growing number of individuals now struggling to survive. (Talamonti, 9/4)