Trump budget slashes USDA programs, international food aid

USDA’s budget would be reduced by more than 18% from existing levels. The budget proposal, released Friday, doesn’t cover mandatory spending programs at USDA such as commodity programs, crop insurance, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and school meals. While proposing to cut non-defense spending by $163 billion in FY26, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again initiative is a clear winner in the White House plan. Kennedy would get $500 million to build on the work of the MAHA Commission, which Trump created in an executive order the same day as Kennedy’s confirmation. The funds will allow Kennedy to “tackle nutrition, physical activity, healthy lifestyles, over-reliance on medication and treatments, the effects of new technological habits, environmental impacts, and food and drug quality and safety” across the agency. Under the USDA portion of the budget request, the Commodity Supplemental Food Program would be eliminated and replaced with “MAHA food boxes.” MAHA food boxes would be filled with commodities sourced from domestic farmers and provided directly to households, and mirrors the approach of boxing commodities used during the end of the first Trump administration during the COVID-19 pandemic.