Vienna, Austria—The below opinion piece is authored by George Bottorff, Gunnery Sergeant, U.S. Marine Corps, retired. The author’s commentary is in response to Congressional Republicans ramming through the President’s priority legislation known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) via a procedural move known as “budget reconciliation.” OBBBA is considered by Democrats Abroad and countless other organizations as one of the worst pieces of legislation in modern U.S. history because of its life-threatening cuts to so many important federal programs designed to help lower-income Americans. Republicans maneuvered to bypass regular order in the legislative process by using reconciliation to pass OBBBA in the Senate and in the House of Representatives. As a result, OBBBA was sent to the White House on July 3, 2025, for the President to sign into law. George is a California UOCAVA voter, a resident of Austria, and a Member of the Democrats Abroad Global Veterans and Military Families Caucus.
There is no doubt that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or “SNAP,” has been a lifeline for millions of Americans, and especially lower-income veterans. This program, formerly known as “food stamps,” is administered through the Department of Agriculture and has for years helped our fellow citizens from every corner of the country afford food. Medicaid has also assisted people as another last-resort program, helping them keep the lights on.
As a veteran and military retiree, I’ve seen veteran colleagues utilize these safety net programs – not because they were looking for a “handout” from the government, but because we all occasionally experience hard times in life and reluctantly need a helping hand. This is exactly why Congress created these programs. Unfortunately, there are so many veterans who’ve gone through tough challenges through no fault of their own such as getting blindsided by an uninsured or drunk driver, or experiencing homelessness because of skyrocketing medical bills, or those individuals with a service-connected disability that prevents them from doing the same employment they used to be able to do.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, or the One Big Ugly Bill Act – a name more aptly describing the new law – has just altered the trajectory of our country’s level of compassion and undermined its reputation for having reliable programs to care for its citizens. Americans who supported Donald Trump in the 2024 election are about to have a wake-up call when their applications for SNAP and Medicaid assistance are met only by the GOP’s laughter over having been successful in scamming their voting base.
To explain further why OBBBA cuts to SNAP will undoubtedly harm Americans’ health and well-being, let me expand from a veteran’s perspective.
When I was in the service, being in this new culture and environment meant being wholly immersed in a new way of life. Marines were (and still are) trained on how to handle situations of extreme hardship. We adapt, improvise, and overcome. So if you ever found yourself in a situation where you had no food or water, you would still be able to survive thanks to your training. As a Platoon Sergeant leading “in the field,” I would always carry extra medical supplies, rations, and water. On the medical side, my pack was always full of medical goodies to support our medic, a Navy corpsman. And the water I always carried was clean water, unlike the undrinkable water in some areas of the United States, sadly. So, if any of the Marines under my responsibility were to sustain an injury or require food or water, I could and would support them. This Leadership Trait is known as Unselfishness, which simply means my Marines came first. Period. This is a Marine Corps given, and it just does not work any other way.
Now, let's look at this situation from a different perspective. Let us say my “platoon” is a group of fellow Americans who do not have immediate access to food in the area where they live, but there is a government program to assist them so that they do not starve to death. Their children would be able to eat before going to school, or the school would provide subsidized lunches, allowing the children and students to focus on learning instead of worrying about where their next meal would come from. This group of Americans would not be able to afford a doctor’s visit, let alone pay for medicines, meals, water bills, and other essentials, without some form of assistance.
I provide the above example from a military perspective because we are quite literally entering an era where many Americans will have better access to food, water, and medical care by enlisting in the military or even going to jail, compared to this Administration simply eliminating access to SNAP and Medicaid for millions of Americans.
The Big Ugly Bill Act has reshaped what it means to achieve “the American Dream.” Meaning, the negative impact on veterans alone, not even all Americans, is significant enough for lawmakers to have permanently killed this legislation. During the last few months, both Senate and House Republicans repeatedly claimed the bill would “help” Americans with things like “tax breaks.” Not only will this legislation not benefit Americans, but it will harm millions of us. First, the bill cuts $120 billion from agriculture, nutrition, and forestry – SNAP benefits are included in this significant spending reduction, and millions of veterans with families rely on this program to survive. Secondly, the measure cuts nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid spending and will affect nearly 12 million Americans, 2 million of whom are veterans who have relied on Medicaid partially or entirely on Medicaid. And third, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office stated that this Big Ugly Bill Act will add $3.4 trillion in national deficits. On what planet is this bill “helping” Americans?
Republicans often tout phrases like “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” and “just climb the ladder of success.” But with a president and Congress who enjoy stealing your pair of boots and kicking the ladder out from under you, the American Dream is now more of an unreachable reality for millions of Americans.
If this Administration continues down this misguided path, we will inevitably start to see a famine in the United States, as farmers who grow the food will no longer produce a sufficient number of crops for the market. Economists have already forecast that small clients and rural hospitals will close. Will jobs and access to financial capital become even more scarce? For Members of Congress who represent the rural areas impacted by passage of the One Big Ugly Bill, it’s conceivable they’ll be absorbed into neighboring districts after the next census because a good majority of these farming Americans will likely no longer be there. These areas may very well end up completely abandoned, creating “food deserts” that are commonly seen on reservations in North Dakota, South Dakota, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah; for this could become America’s future.
U.S. citizens living abroad, both civilian and military, are highly encouraged to check your voter registration status and request your ballot for any upcoming elections in your home voting state that you are eligible to vote in.
The VMF Caucus, proudly consisting of veterans, military family members, DoD civilians, and strong allies of veterans and military family causes, has a membership of approximately 1,300 members located in dozens of countries.
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