Hunger and Food Insecurity

Hunger and food insecurity reflect political and economic systems that deny people—particularly women, children and marginalized communities—consistent access to safe, nutritious food.

This Is Not Just a Budget. It’s a War on Women.

PUBLISHED 5/31/2025 by

They didn’t just vote to gut programs. They voted to gut women’s lives.

Last week, in the dark of night, House Republicans passed a budget bill that slashes billions in federal spending on Medicaid, SNAP (food assistance), childcare, home energy assistance and disability support. The budget bill will cut direct support to tens of millions of working-class families—and, according to the Congressional Budget Office, millions more will lose their health insurance through changes to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace. This is not just cruel. It’s calculated. And it will hit women hardest.

We have one month to stop these devastating cuts.

Who Gets Hurt When Congress Cuts Healthcare and Food Aid? Everyone But the Rich.

PUBLISHED 5/28/2025 by | UPDATED 2/17/2026 at 6:37 A.M. PT

House Republicans just passed a “big, beautiful” budget bill that would devastate basic needs programs for the most vulnerable Americans in order to pay for tax breaks for the rich. It now heads to the Senate, where Republicans aim to pass a final version by July 4.

Who gets hurt when Congress cuts healthcare and food aid?

Children with disabilities who lose access to therapy. Seniors who can no longer afford their medications. Single mothers choosing between rent and food. Adults with disabilities forced from their homes into institutions. Rural families left without doctors or groceries. Over 10 million people who could lose Medicaid. More than 42 million who rely on SNAP. And every American who believes that basic dignity shouldn’t depend on your ZIP code, income or party in power.

Keeping Score: Trump Administration Attacks Immigrant Students; Pregnant Women Left Behind in RFK Jr.’s COVID Policy Shift; House GOP Targets SNAP and Medicaid

PUBLISHED 5/27/2025 by

In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.

This week:
—House Republicans pass a reconciliation bill with almost $1 trillion in cuts to SNAP and Medicaid; feminists call it “unacceptable, inhumane and reckless.”
—”There is literally no oversight happening in this committee under the GOP,” laments Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), ranking member of the Subcommittee on DOGE, led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
—Mahmoud Khalil’s powerful letter to his newborn son: “How is it that the same politicians who preach ‘family values’ are the ones tearing families apart?”
—Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s HHS will no longer advise pregnant women and children to receive the COVID vaccine, an unusual decision that sidesteps standard CDC process.
—Women-owned small businesses have higher job satisfaction.
—A federal judge attacks protections for LGBTQ Americans.

… and more.

Can Unconditional Cash Transfers Help Reduce Poverty?

PUBLISHED 5/13/2025 by

How transformative would an extra $1,000 a month be for low-income Americans? That’s the question OpenResearch, started by the founder of OpenAI Sam Altman, set out to answer with its three-year Unconditional Cash Study. Participants were given $1,000 per month with no strings attached and their experiences were compared against a control group that received $50 per month.

The study’s director, Dr. Elizabeth Rhodes, sat down with Ms. to discuss the study’s findings and how cash transfers can help inform government policy to alleviate poverty.

Some highlights:
— “There are some very transformative stories and some ‘I was able to buy shampoo’ stories.”
— “We saw small reductions, about 2 percent or 1.3 hours per week, in employment. … Do we care that single parents are working a few hours less and spending more time with their kids?”
— “Critics of cash transfers argue that people will not spend the money in socially optimal ways, but participants spent to meet their basic needs.”

Why Trump’s Pronatalist Agenda Is Actually Anti-Motherhood

PUBLISHED 5/9/2025 by

This Mother’s Day, for the 111th year in a row, families across the nation will gather to celebrate all the love, care and work provided by the mothers in their lives. Woodrow Wilson declared Mother’s Day a federal holiday nearly a year after he established the basis of today’s modern income tax system, allowing him to lower tariff rates on many of the basic necessities American families relied on in 1914.

It is darkly ironic that more than a century later, the Trump administration is attempting to reverse these pro-family policies, while at the same time promoting a pronatalist agenda aimed at creating more mothers and larger families. 

Despite promoting motherhood, Trump’s policies threaten the economic stability of the 45 percent of mothers who are primary breadwinners—especially single moms and women of color.

Critical Programs for Women and Families Face Deep Cuts in House Budget Bill

PUBLISHED 5/7/2025 by | UPDATED 7/29/2025 at 10:37 A.M. PT

A sweeping budget bill moving quickly through the House threatens to make draconian cuts to Medicaid and SNAP—two of the nation’s most vital programs for women and children.

The bill is being framed as “all or nothing” legislation by Republican leadership—a vehicle designed to pass the entire Trump agenda without needing Democratic votes. And the changes are being presented as necessary for fiscal responsibility—but here is what they won’t say out loud.

I’m a Single Mom Raising Three Kids. A Year of Guaranteed Income Gave Us Breathing Room.

PUBLISHED 4/24/2025 by

Front & Center began as first-person accounts of Black mothers in Jackson, Miss., receiving a guaranteed income. Now in its fourth year, the series is expanding to explore broader systemic issues affecting Black women in poverty, including the safety net, healthcare, caregiving and overall well-being.

“My name is Jasmine, and I’m 33 years old. I’m a mother of three—there’s Nehemiah, my oldest, who is 13. Then there’s my daughter, Harmoni, who is 9, and my youngest, Joshun, is 8 years old. …

“Finding reliable childcare has always been a struggle. There were times when I couldn’t get a job because I couldn’t find childcare or the process of securing a childcare voucher took too long. … My mom isn’t able to help due to being ill, and I don’t hear from my dad much. So, I don’t have a lot of people I can rely on.”

Trump’s Attack on the Education Department Will Disempower Parents

PUBLISHED 4/23/2025 by

In a North Carolina coastal community, an elementary school may be forced to end its free monthly dinners where parents come together with teachers to talk about their children’s academic progress, as well as their mental and physical health.

In a rural corner of Texas, local high schools may have to stop participating in a partnership connecting students with local colleges, trade schools and career opportunities—even though parents insist that college and career readiness is the biggest need for their kids.

In Idaho, an elementary school may be forced to stop its after-school program, which parents named as a major help.

These parent-empowering initiatives are now under threat because each of these schools receives federal dollars from the Education Department for their “community school” programs—federal dollars that are now on the chopping block.

Secretary of Agriculture’s Anti-Trans Crusade Won’t Save Our Food System

PUBLISHED 4/15/2025 by

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has long been a sprawling agency with often-conflicting goals. It’s in charge of both promoting healthy diets through the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, school food and nutrition assistance programs and boosting commodity crops, which are dumped into our food system in the form of unhealthy, ultra-processed foods and excessive amounts of meat and dairy.

But since its founding, the USDA’s role has been to recognize the vital importance of agriculture in our country and to protect America’s food supply.

So if you’re wondering how attacking transgender youth helps our food system, you’re not alone.

Cutting the Workforce at HHS Undermines the Social Safety Net. Families and Kids Will Suffer the Most.

PUBLISHED 4/10/2025 by

The Administration for Children and Families plays a quiet but crucial role in upholding the American social safety net—administering billions in federal funds to programs that support children, families, and vulnerable communities. But devastating cuts to ACF staff and offices threaten to unravel this lifeline, with immediate consequences already surfacing.

Without experienced civil servants to oversee grants, answer questions and approve disbursements, the very programs meant to catch people in crisis are being pushed to the brink. And in the long term, it’s families and kids who will pay the highest price.