Republicans are Ready For Americans to Die

How the wealthiest nation is preparing to cut food aid.

Republicans aren’t just killing America, they’re also preparing to kill Americans.

In the latest news coming out of Congress, Republicans are plotting something so mind-numbingly boring and wonky to read that nobody will look into it and it could pass because it seems benign.

I’ll try my best to explain this as easily as possible. If you're having trouble, leave a comment. If enough people are confused (at least two people), then I’ll make a video explainer.

Here’s the Paycheck Breakdown.

There’s a program that over 42 million people use every single month to help put food on the table. It’s called SNAP. It’s the Prince of the welfare world because every time you see “SNAP”, it’s followed by “formerly known as food stamps.”

The average daily benefit per person is $6.

And Republicans want to cut that in this economy.

There are a few ways they want to cut SNAP, but the most diabolical is this: shifting the cost from the federal government to the states.

Are you still with me after that phrase? If so, great! We’re almost done.

And since you’ve made it this far, here’s a picture of a bunny.

Photo by Satyabratasm on Unsplash

So, SNAP is funded in two separate ways.

1. The SNAP benefit itself is fully funded by the federal government.

2. People don’t go to a national website to sign up for SNAP. They visit their respective state agencies. The state administration of SNAP is split 50/50 between state and federal government.

The proposal shifts the cost of the SNAP benefits themselves to the states. That’s a massive change. If states have to cover even a portion, expect budget chaos. The language Republicans use to make it seem like it’s no problem is a ‘modest cost share’. When you hear that, it sounds fine. But guess what - it’s sinister as hell. State budget fights are brutal. It’s like vultures fighting over scraps. There are so many items in the state budget that must be funded and there’s so little money leftover after that to do much with.

Congress knows that. Heck, they’re banking on that.

So instead of Congressional Republicans doing the dirty deed of forcing people off SNAP and/or cutting that $6 down to $4, they’re passing the buck to the state to do the unpopular thing.

States won’t be able to shift their budget items to fund SNAP. This leaves two options.

1. Increase taxes to fully fund SNAP - which won’t happen in pretty much all states, especially ahead of a recession.

2. Remove customizations that expanded the program to more people. SNAP expansion, known as “broad-based categorical eligibility”, typically expands SNAP to tens of thousands of families who are low-income to help them with basic needs. States would absolutely remove these options which would remove people from the program and do this to save costs. People who need the assistance would be removed, food insecurity will skyrocket, and kids will do worse in school. People will die.

Here’s the crazy part: they know it’s a bad idea! That is why they want to roll this budget out after the 2028 Presidential election.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention - the cuts to SNAP aren’t to save money. They’re to give tax cuts to the wealthiest people in history. As a reminder, SNAP is used up each month within 3 weeks. It rapidly injects money into the economy and provides for jobs. When you give a rich person a tax cut, you never see that money again.

We only have mere days left before the House Agriculture Committee does its budget markup on Tuesday night.

Here’s how to go from enraged to engaged:

House (send an email any time)

Click this link, insert your feelings/story into the template, and send.

House (call during work hours)

1. Dial 202-224-3121.

2. If you do not know the name of your Congress Member, say, “I’m not sure.”

3. Say, “Representative.”

4. Say your zip code.

5. Confirm the Representative.

6. When connected with the office, you can leave a message with the staffer who answers or ask to be connected to the staffer who works on SNAP.

7. Sample script: “Hi, my name is [your name], and I am a constituent. I would like the Representative to know that I am concerned and troubled about shifting costs to run SNAP from the federal government to the state. Congressmember XXX should know that our state doesn’t have the budget to make this happen. This is simply a way to have the states cut people off of SNAP rather than Congress doing it themselves. Grocery prices and hunger are increasing in the country and these measures would result in older adults, young families, and veterans going hungry. I want my Representative to speak out and vote against any such cost shift and to speak with their colleagues in the House Ag Committee on the same. Thank you.”

   1. BONUS: share some of your story in that script to really win their hearts.

8. Report in the comments how it went.