There is much debate and speculation on the potential effect of President Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ on the complex web that is the economy of the United States. Having narrowly passed in the House it now moves to the Senate for consideration.

What should be most disturbing to all however is the bill’s fundamental mean-spiritedness – specifically as it relates to Medicaid and SNAP benefits – what used to be called ‘food stamps.’ To target those individuals in our society who are already experiencing an already precarious hand-to-mouth existence – and attempt to make their live even more difficult – requires a cold-heartedness that should be absent from American discourse, politics and policy.

It undermines the compassion that should be this country’s beating heart – especially when one is considering those whose reality is more American nightmare than American dream.

By failing to ensure that there is a guaranteed and dignified access to healthcare for all – no matter a person’s employment status – is an abdication of the covenant that must exist between a government and its people. Failing to assist individuals and families to purchase food should disturb the collective conscience of any caring society.

Absent a government that can meet those two baseline duties of itself towards its people then there is no “shining city on the hill.” Instead, what we are left with is hypocritical posturing by those whose only guiding light and NorthStar seems to be a desire to cull the heard and eliminate poverty by eliminating poor people.

The desire to impose 80 hour per month work requirements on both Medicaid and SNAP recipients under 65 is nothing more than an attempt to reduce through imposition of barriers the numbers of people who benefit from and rely on these essential programs.

How ironic that those who squawk about excessive government oversight and regulation in the business world now seek to rely on that very technique to reduce spending and ensure that the blame for “waste, fraud and abuse” falls squarely on the shoulders of those people who are already on the lowest rung of the economic ladder than on the insurance companies, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies.

On the practical side, many of the jobs available that could fulfill this 80 hour requirement are part-time, low-wage and no benefit positions that, while certainly benefitting the corporate employer, do nothing to alleviate or ameliorate the circumstances of those who may be forced to find them. What about the added costs that come with this? How about transportation costs for the single mother of five children or the child care costs she would have to bear? What about the burden on the 60 year old – too young for Social Security – having to find a position in a society where age and potential physical limitations – even those that are not yet manifested – make many employers skittish of offering a job in the first place.

Is the new American motto to be “Too bad, so sad!” How about “Only the strong should live!”

We are also living in an era where corporations are seeking to improve their bottom lines by eliminating the human factor whenever and wherever possible. As consumers we have slowly been trained to use self-checkout stations at supermarkets and Big Box stores – actual human cashiers costing so much more. The latest threat to the working American is AI as it expands its reach and rapidly works its way into every profession – eliminating human positions along the way.

So, no, there is not necessarily a job available for every American who would like one. There is certainly not a well-paying, benefit-heavy, fulfilling position for those – who through lack of privilege, education, and yes, old-fashioned good luck – find themselves navigating the underbelly of opportunity.

Finally, the hypocrisy of those in power, those in Congress specifically, would be laughable if it did not have such tragic and real-world consequences. The taxpayer is often invoked as the individual whom Congress is most concerned with and most trying to protect.

It is worth remembering that the same taxpayers who fund programs like Medicaid and SNAP also fund the salaries of those in Congress, including generous pensions and the kind of comprehensive health care that most can only dream about. This compensation of course includes many meals on the public dime and transportation allowances both domestic and international. In other words, the taxpayers are providing them with a pretty fine cookie jar.

They wish to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse? Perhaps they need to hold up a mirror before hypocritically targeting the least fortunate.

As the proverb says, “Physician, heal thyself.”

Gavin MacFadyen is a Jamestown resident and past opinion columnist for the Post-Journal whose freelance work has appeared in the Buffalo News, Washington Post and Albany Times Union.