Trump officials push $3 meals as their tariffs drive largest food price spike in 27 months

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins appeared on NewsNation on Jan. 14, 2026, claiming Americans can eat healthy meals for $3. She described a meal as a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, a corn tortilla, and one other thing. Rollins said USDA ran over 1,000 simulations to determine this price point. The comments drew widespread mockery on social media as a depression meal, with critics noting that a pound of chicken breast alone costs $4-5 at most grocery stores.

Economic adviser SMStephen Moore defended Rollins the next day on CNN's The Lead with Jake Tapper. Moore said we could cut our health care costs dramatically with just better diets for people. He added I'm the first in line that doesn't have a very healthy diet. I eat way too much sugar and processed food. And that's just not good for you. Moore framed the issue as consumer behavior rather than affordability, suggesting Americans can make $3 meals work by choosing lower-cost ingredients like eggs and pork while staying mindful of rising beef prices.

The $3 meal claims came one day after the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Dec. 2025 CPI data on Jan. 13 showing food prices jumped 0.7% in Dec.—the largest monthly increase since Oct. 2022. Year-over-year, beef rose 16.4%, coffee jumped 20%, and candy increased 10%. Overall food-at-home prices rose 2.4% annually. The Joint Economic Committee Democrats calculated that a typical family paid $310 more for groceries in Trump's first year compared to the previous year.

Trump's tariff policies directly caused much of the grocery inflation. Harvard Business School analysis found tariffs added 0.7 percentage points to CPI inflation as of Aug. 2025. The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis found tariffs explained roughly 0.5 percentage points of PCE inflation from Jun. to Aug. 2025. Trump's 50% tariff on Brazilian coffee—which supplies one-third of U.S. imports—drove coffee prices to a record $8.41 per pound in Jul., a 33% increase from the prior year. Tariffs on beef imports from Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, and Uruguay contributed to beef price spikes.

House members receive $79 per day in meal allowances when in session, totaling $26.33 per meal if spread across three meals per day. They also get $258 per day for lodging, bringing total per diem to $337 daily. Members can claim up to $34,000 annually in these allowances, and they don't need to submit receipts—just self-certify eligible expenses. Over 200 lawmakers used $1.4 million in the first six months of 2023, including 17 millionaires such as Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) with a $1.8 million net worth who claimed expenses, and Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA) worth $13.5 million.

White House officials including Cabinet secretaries like Brooke Rollins eat at the Presidential Food Service, also known as the White House Mess, operated by the U.S. Navy since 1951. The facility serves gourmet meals to senior officials in the West Wing basement, seating 50 at 12 tables. Taxpayers fund the entire staff and infrastructure. Officials pay nominal fees far below actual costs. In 2015, the White House Mess switched to meat and poultry that have not been treated with hormones or antibiotics. Meanwhile, the Senate dining room website declares its menu embodies the prestige expected by its members, with Congressional Research Service documents noting the rooms provide ambiance not typically found in workplace eateries.

The Federal Trade Commission found in Mar. 2024 that some firms used rising costs as an opportunity to further hike prices to increase their profits. Food and beverage retailers saw revenues outpace costs by 7% in 2023, a new record. The FTC concluded larger retailers and wholesalers with considerable leverage over suppliers were able to take more aggressive action to protect themselves. Profit margins remained elevated even as supply chain pressures eased. Trump fired FTC Chair LKLina Khan, who had launched investigations into grocery pricing practices and created the Strike Force on Unfair and Illegal Pricing.

The Trump administration's response to grocery inflation has been to blame consumer behavior rather than address policy causes. Trump claimed prices are down in a Detroit speech on Jan. 13—false, as prices were up 2.2% since he took office. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in Mar. 2025 that access to cheap goods is not the essence of the American Dream. Trump suggested in Dec. 2025 that Americans give up certain products like 37 pencils and 37 dolls. The pattern is consistent: deflect responsibility for inflation caused by tariffs and lack of price gouging enforcement by framing affordability as a personal responsibility issue.