Did President Donald Trump Actually Cut Funding for Meals on Wheels?

The horrifying degree of food insecurity in the U.S. continues to build, ensnaring an increasing number of individuals and families. For a variety of reasons, food insecurity affects many Americans.

While documentaries, activists, and some programs put a dent in the large number of those who go hungry each day, the truth is that large-scale policies are needed to address this issue once and for all. Certainly, cutting funding for a program like Meals on Wheels would be counterintuitive.

Yet, activists have protested around the country at their respective state capitol buildings, voicing their displeasure at the notion that President Donald Trump will freeze or cut the funding for Meals on Wheels entirely.

Is there any truth to the fear that President Trump will cut the funding for Meals on Wheels? Was such a claim written in the Project 2025 playbook? Let's explore the answers to these questions below.

It is more accurate to say that funding was not extended to the Meals on Wheels program in a piece of legislation that extended funding to other programs instead. In March, H.R. 1968, aka the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025, became a law.

Known as a "continuing resolution" or "CR," the passage of the bill extended funding for programs like Medicare and Medicaid, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, as well as other agencies and programs of note.

To make sense of everything, Meals on Wheels issued a statement upon the signing of the bill into law.

"Meals on Wheels America is deeply disappointed that Congress has failed yet again to prioritize the needs of our nation’s older adults by passing a long-term continuing resolution (CR) instead of comprehensive spending bills that could have made critical investments to address the growing crises of senior hunger and isolation."

Furthermore, the decision to omit Meals on Wheels from the CR is painted in no uncertain terms as a funding cut.

Per the Meals on Wheels statement: "The flat funding levels set in this CR represent, in effect, a funding cut that could lead to a reduction in services, given rising costs and increased need among a rapidly growing senior population."

Notably, as the Guardian reports, Meals on Wheels has traditionally been one topic that has garnered bipartisan backing.

“It’s not hyperbolic to say that we’re going to be leaving people hungry and that this literally has life and death implications,” Caring Across Generations' chief of advocacy and campaigns, Nicole Jorwic, told the Guardian. “This is not just about a nice-to-have program. These programs are necessities in the lives of seniors all over this country.”

The politically motivated move to suppress or cut funding from the Meals on Wheels program should not have come as such a shock to anyone, even if Meals on Wheels may not have been explicitly mentioned by name in the Project 2025 playbook written years ago.

Most recently, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. issued massive layoffs of Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) staff. As NPR reported on April 1, Meals on Wheels is overseen by HHS.

Furthermore, as the Washington, D.C.-based Food Research & Action Center reported in September 2024, the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 offered wide-ranging, sweeping changes to many food-related policies and programs, including the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, school meal provisions, the WIC program, SNAP benefits, and consolidating food-related programs and policies within HHS.

Again, this was all foretold in Project 2025, even before Donald Trump began his second term as president.