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AOC responds to Trump administration cutting off resources for 700,000 food stamp recipients

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the young, newly elected Congresswoman from New York, blasted the Trump administration after it announced it would cut off access to food stamps for about 700,000 people.

The 700,000 recipients have been labeled “able-bodied adults” who are capable of working but remain unemployed. Sonny Perdue, the head of the USDA, which oversees food assistance programs, said these people should be encouraged to work.

“We need to encourage people by giving them a helping hand but not allowing it to become an indefinitely giving hand,” Perdue said. “This rule lays the groundwork for the expectation that able-bodied Americans re-enter the workforce where there are currently more job openings than people to fill them.”

Ocasio-Cortez said her own family relied on food stamps after her father died, and that the Trump administration is content to let people “just starve” instead of giving them food assistance.

“My family relied on food stamps (EBT) when my dad died at 48,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. “I was a student. If this happened then, we might’ve just starved. Now, many people will. It’s shameful how the GOP works overtime to create freebies for the rich while dissolving lifelines of those who need it most.”

The USDA estimates that by cutting 700,000 people from food stamps, the U.S. will save $5 billion over five years.