WASHINGTON—Responding to the criticism surrounding the Trump administration’s recent decision to tighten restrictions on supplemental nutrition eligibility, Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue argued Thursday that the food stamp cuts will incentivize people to go out and get exploitative jobs that won’t exist in five years. “Look, these cuts are not about kicking people off the food stamp rolls, but encouraging them to get off the couch and start looking for thankless, backbreaking work that will be rendered obsolete by either automation or outsourcing by 2025,” said Perdue, adding that the administration’s goal wasn’t to prevent Americans from affording food, but to create an empowering situation where U.S. citizens could barely have the means for sustenance because their degrading, short-term job, with severe physical and emotional hazards, forces them to work overtime without extra pay. “We are hoping the new directive will serve as a gentle nudge for Americans to take their lives into their own hands by signing up for one, two, or even three demanding jobs from a hellish megacorporation that only cares about their bottom line. People shouldn’t be relying on the government for free food, especially in this current Trump economy—there are tons of available positions that will push the boundaries of their physical and mental health, as well as significantly decrease their life expectancy, all in exchange for a meager subsistence that robs them and their families of their dignity.” Perdue also added that the new rules would work in tandem with the proposed cuts to Medicare, which the administration has argued will incentivize unemployed people to take up jobs that offer inhumane health care plans that don’t cover essential services.

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