“I can’t stand for too long a time, or I lose my balance.”

This is what Rubem DaSilva, a 79-year-old retired accountant who lives alone in New York City, experiences when he tries to prepare a meal or go grocery shopping ever since his cerebral hemorrhage. His story reflects what I see every day: older Americans going hungry behind closed doors.

States are sounding alarm bells that SNAP benefits will run out as soon as next week—and I can’t stop thinking about Rubem and many others in his position. And while we're focused on the immediate crisis the government shutdown poses, we've already lost something far more permanent: our ability to see the next crisis coming.

Last month, the Trump Administration canceled the USDA’s annual Household Food Security Report—the only national dat

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