1. United States
2. Neb.
3. Letter

You swore an oath — to serve, to protect, to lead with honor. So it’s frankly appalling to watch you peddle willfully misleading garbage about SNAP and Medicaid recipients while knowingly screwing over the very people you once served alongside. Let’s start with the lie you’ve repeated now across multiple newsletters: that “illegal immigrants” are draining SNAP benefits. That’s false — undocumented immigrants are already barred from receiving SNAP. You either don’t know this (which is negligence) or you do and chose to inflame your base with xenophobic talking points anyway (which is cowardice). Either way, it’s dishonorable. You then lean on data from the American Enterprise Institute, a far-right think tank funded by corporations, private donors, and conservative foundations, and you quote Kevin Corinth without disclosing that he’s a former Trump White House staffer — not an impartial economist. If you’re going to cite biased sources, at least have the integrity to say so. And let’s talk about the “able-bodied adults without dependents.” You cite the American Time Use Survey to suggest these folks are lazy and watching too much TV. But here’s what you don’t say: • Over 23,000 active-duty service members rely on SNAP (GAO, 2016 (https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-16-561)). • Over 1.2 million veterans receive SNAP assistance (CBPP, 2023 (https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/snap-helps-almost-14-million-low-income-veterans-including-thousands-in)). • 24% of military households experience food insecurity, including many who are technically ABAWDs (American Society for Nutrition (https://nutrition.org/increasing-access-to-snap-benefits-for-low-income-active-duty-military-households-can-help-reduce-poverty)). These are your people, Congressman. You commanded them. You thanked them for their service. And now you’re selling them out to score points with the far-right. You frame these cuts as “common sense,” but common sense tells us this: You’re fine letting working-class Americans — including troops and veterans — go hungry if it lets you spin a moral panic about fraud. Don’t wrap this in patriotism or fiscal responsibility. There’s nothing patriotic about cutting food aid for junior enlisted soldiers while quoting AEI and Corinth like they’re objective truth-tellers. There’s nothing fiscally sound about fearmongering over $30 billion in SNAP overpayments while ignoring $858 billion in Pentagon spending or the $2 trillion tax cuts you cheered for. You call this “strengthening the system.” I call it what it is: gutless cruelty, dressed up in a flag. You wore the uniform, Congressman. Act like it.