On May 23rd, President Trump presented his budget request for fiscal year 2018 (FY18) to Congress, outlining his spending priorities for the coming year.
The FY18 budget request calls for $4.1 trillion to fund government operations in the next fiscal year. This would set funding at $69 billion in discretionary budget authority, down from $84.1 billion in FY17. The office of Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) within the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is responsible for administering nutrition assistance programs and the FY18 budget proposes level funding for FNS at $149 billion.
However, the devastating cuts proposed to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and other anti-poverty programs would have the overall impact of significantly increasing child hunger and poverty in the U.S.
This fact sheet looks in greater detail at policy proposals in the budget that impact child hunger and nutrition. Notable policy changes for particular programs are indicated below.