Food Assurance and Security Act

This Act may be cited as the “Food Assurance and Security Act”.

(a) In general.— The Secretary of Agriculture (referred to in this section as the “Secretary”), in coordination with the Director of the Bureau of the Census, shall establish an interagency food security measurement program, under which the Secretary shall coordinate the annual collection, analysis, and reporting of data on food insecurity and hunger, including the food security supplement required under subsection (b).

(b) Food security supplement.—

(1) In general.— The Current Population Survey conducted by the Bureau of the Census shall include a food security supplement consistent with the Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement questionnaire issued in 2023 by the Bureau of the Census for the Economic Research Service that—

(A) includes the questions described in paragraph (2) for each Current Population Survey conducted during calendar years 2026 through 2028; and

(B) as of January 1, 2029, may contain those questions or substantially similar questions, subject to the condition that any amendments to the questions are predicated on robust testing, public input, and clearance from the Office of Management and Budget.

(2) Questions described.— The questions referred to in paragraph (1)(A) are the following:

(A) Was the answer often, sometimes, or never true for you in the last 12 months for each of the following:

(i) We worried whether our food would run out before we got money to buy more.

(ii) The food that we bought just didn’t last and we didn’t have money to get more.

(iii) We couldn’t afford to eat balanced meals.

(B) In the last 12 months, did you or other adults in the household ever cut the size of your meals or skip meals because there wasn’t enough money for food?

(C) If the answer is yes to the previous question, how often did this happen—almost every month, some months but not every month, or in only 1 or 2 months?

(D) In the last 12 months, did you ever eat less than you felt you should because there wasn’t enough money for food?

(E) In the last 12 months, were you ever hungry, but didn’t eat, because there wasn’t enough money for food?

(F) In the last 12 months, did you lose weight because there wasn’t enough money for food?

(G) In the last 12 months, did you or other adults in your household ever not eat for a whole day because there wasn’t enough money for food?

(H) If the answer is yes to the previous question, how often did this happen—almost every month, some months but not every month, or in only 1 or 2 months?

(I) In the case of a household that includes children ages 0 to 17, the following additional questions:

(i) Was the answer often, sometimes, or never true for you in the last 12 months for each of the following:

(I) We relied on only a few kinds of low-cost food to feed our children because we were running out of money to buy food.

(II) We couldn’t feed our children a balanced meal, because we couldn’t afford that.

(III) The children were not eating enough because there wasn’t enough money for food.

(ii) In the last 12 months, did you ever cut the size of any of the children’s meals because there wasn’t enough money for food?

(iii) In the last 12 months, were the children ever hungry because there wasn’t enough money for food?

(iv) In the last 12 months, did any of the children ever skip a meal because there wasn’t enough money for food?

(v) If the answer is yes to the previous question, how often did this happen—almost every month, some months but not every month, or in only 1 or 2 months?

(vi) In the last 12 months, did any of the children ever not eat for a whole day because there wasn’t enough money for food?

(c) Annual report.— The Secretary shall submit to Congress, and make publicly available on the website of the Department of Agriculture, an annual report of the data collected under the program established under subsection (a), including the findings related to the food security supplement required under subsection (b).

(d) Funding.— There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out this section.