 We just celebrated Thanksgiving and you know overall this is supposed to be a more joyous and generous time of the year However, the Trump administration has chosen, you know, rather than feeding the hungry this holiday season They're going to let people starve. Why? Because this is a punitive measure that he believes will make people more inclined to seek out employment If you starve them then maybe that will encourage them to get a job It'll be a little, you know, kicking the behind to help them pull themselves up by their bootstraps That's the logic anyways So as Phil McCosland of NBC News reports the Trump administration Wednesday formalized work requirements for recipients of food stamps a move that will cause hundreds of thousands of people To lose access to the supplemental nutrition assistance program or SNAP the USDA rule change affects people between the ages of 18 and 49 who are childless and not disabled under current rules This group is required to work at least 20 hours per week for more than three months over a 36-month period to qualify for food stamps But states have been able to create waivers for areas that face high unemployment The new rule would limit states from wavering those standards instead Restricting their use to those areas that have a 6% unemployment rate or higher the national unemployment rate in October Was 3.6% During the call Wednesday the USDA said that about 688,000 people would lose access to food stamps That's down from its earlier estimate that 750,000 people would be affected the USDA said that this was an extension of President Donald Trump's April 2018 executive order called Reducing poverty in America by promoting opportunity and economic mobility that is Orwellian named that aimed to create more work programs and Limit public assistance. This work requirement rule would save the government 5.5 billion over five years the USDA said the agency said that it found 2.9 million adults on SNAP roles were able-bodied and did not have dependence and it said 2.1 million were not working Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture Nutrition and Forestry Said this rule would do little to help anyone find work All the rule change does is strip people from accessing the benefits She said and that last line there is totally correct. This is Donald Trump trying to encourage people To find employment by using starvation as leverage against them It's a type of deterrent right we apply this philosophy to our immigration policy as well The more cruel and inhumane our immigration policy becomes the logic is that will that will be a greater Deterrent against other people coming into the country, but it doesn't actually work that way And by making sure that more people starve in this country You're not going to make them that much more inclined to find a job Some people can't work or they're trying to find a job or they already have a job and it's part-time and Their hours got cut I mean there are so many reasons that they're not considering here that will just lead to people going hungry So if you have diabetes and you need a specific type of diet Well, you may not be able to get the diet and nutrition that you need if you're already Poor and you're on food stamps and you've got to skip a meal You may have to skip another meal and be even more malnourished I mean, this is just cruel and inhumane all to say five point five billion dollars When if we really wanted to increase revenue to the federal government We can undo those tax returns for millionaires and billionaires like Donald Trump which amounts to more than a trillion dollars But see when it's for the rich people we can spend money if it means helping them But for poor people we've got to save every fucking penny Even if that means that some people will go hungry and possibly die as a result of this This is disgusting We're the richest country in the world and look at the things that we prioritize if you are a seasonal worker With an inconsistent schedule or you know, you work in Retail or fast food and it's slow. So, you know, you're let off to save money on labor Well, for no reason whatsoever Donald Trump is penalizing you because he thinks this is going to help you be You know employed full-time or whatever the case may be It's just morally reprehensible and I can't believe that things like this happen and the mainstream media says nothing like We learned that Donald Trump will be cutting more than 600,000 almost 700,000 people from the food stamp program and there's not a peep from the mainstream media about this It's disgusting. It's absolutely morally reprehensible and the thing about the snap program is that the goal of snap is to feed the hungry It's not an employment program, right? We can't use that to successfully get people jobs If you want people to have jobs in this country create a federal jobs program I mean, there are a number of things that you can do, but this right here is just Donald Trump punishing people for being poor That's all that this is about because when he cuts people from food stamps, then he's gonna brag about how oh well look People on food stamps have gone down. That means that people are doing better. That's exactly what this is about Now it could potentially get worse than this believe it or not the article continues This is the first of three rule changes aimed to augment the snap program proposed by the Trump administration The two others would reform the way 40 states automatically enroll families and to snap when they receive other forms of federal aid and Cap deductions made for housing and utility costs, which are considered when a person applies for food stamps a study by the Urban Institute Released this week Examined the three rules in combination for the first time and found that 3.7 million fewer people would receive snap in an average month 2.2 million households would see their average monthly benefits drop by $127 more than 3 million others would see an average drop of 37 dollars per month and 982,000 students would lose access to free or reduced lunches What we found is that overall the three proposed changes would reduce the number of households participating in snap by about 11 percent if this was implemented in 2018 Laura we in a senior fellow at the Urban Institute who conducted the study previously told NBC News It's about a nine point four percent reduction in the number of people participating and about an eight percent reduction in overall benefits So I mean that's Donald Trump's goal. That is his ultimate goal and If he had his way if it wouldn't be tremendously unpopular he probably would just end these programs I mean it's already like death by a thousand cuts Politicians keep chipping away at all of our social safety net programs even though these programs belong to us We pay into them and yet they want to reduce benefits all to you know increase the revenue revenue to the federal government and Essentially just kick people when they're down. I mean this is the human embodiment of Ebenezer Scrooge It's disgusting. We're getting this announcement during the Christmas season, which he claims You know that there's a war on or he did anyways most conservatives do but I mean It's just it's morally reprehensible and this motherfucker likes to claim that he loves America so much Well, you don't love America if you don't love Americans and since he's been in power all he's done is Demonstrated that he has contempt in his heart for normal working Americans people who are already struggling to feed themselves He's going to make it more difficult if you're on food stamps. It's difficult right to feed yourself he's going to make it more difficult and This will obviously disproportionately impact marginalized communities people of color This is going to hurt people who need to eat and this is probably also going to hurt Donald Trump's own Supporters, but they probably will still vote for him regardless because a they either don't know about this or B They don't care as long as he's going to continue to punish immigrants if you still support Donald Trump You are on the wrong side of history and it's not like he's any different than other conservatives with regard to this issue They always want to gut our social safety net programs, but we're getting more desperate right times are getting tougher for people and Yet they still don't care They're restricting access to social safety net programs that the poor relies on to feed themselves that keeps them Alive I mean, I just I don't know what to say about this I have family members who benefit from this program who will probably be affected by this cut I mean people just because they're not employed that doesn't necessarily mean that they're lazy, right? That's what conservatives want you to believe. There's this welfare a queen myth that has persisted since the Reagan era People either are looking for work or can't work for a number of reasons mental health issues some type of illness The point is we should be helping them not kicking them when they're fucking down if you're poor enough to qualify for snap You're not having a wonderful life. Your fridge isn't fully stocked so we need to just Fundamentally reshape the way that we think about you know the poor in this country These people are not a burden to the system the individuals who are burdening the system are the elites They're the real welfare queens You want to gut welfare gut the welfare that we're giving to Walmart who pay their workers such low wages that their employees have to go on welfare That's the welfare that you should look at Welfare that Supports large multinational corporations and their greed, but I mean, I don't I don't know what else to say about this it's just it's honestly depressing and a little demoralizing especially around the holiday season when people are trying to be you know in high spirits and Being good moods they learn that you know, some of them may go hungry even more so than they already are and it's just really It's heartbreaking Mike is the worst progressive on YouTube. Please don't subscribe to him or become a patron David Dole is so much better. Trust me folks. He's doing a great job. He really is okay