Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday led a coalition of nearly 140 House and Senate Democrats in calling on the Trump administration to rescind its proposed rule to slash food stamp eligibility, warning "millions of families will go hungry" if the policy takes effect.

"In a nation where the three wealthiest people own more wealth than the bottom half, increasing the barriers for hungry families is unconscionable," the members of Congress wrote in a letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue.

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"If enacted, the Trump administration's own analysis of this rule estimates that 3.1 million people—nearly nine percent of SNAP recipients — would lose their benefits," the letter stated. "No one should go hungry in the United States of America."

Sanders, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, told The Guardian Thursday that President Donald Trump's effort to slash nutrition assistance for millions of low-income Americans after cutting taxes for the rich shows the United States is rapidly "moving toward a system of oligarchy, where political decisions in Washington enrich the wealthy while devastating the poor."

"President Trump and the billionaires in his administration — after giving away over $1 trillion in tax cuts to mainly the rich and large corporations — are now trying to strip nutrition assistance from more than three million people," Sanders said. "At a time when 40 percent of families can't afford a $400 emergency and 13 million children live in poverty, this is an immoral and obscene decision."

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The letter from congressional Democrats comes two weeks after Trump's USDA unveiled a rule that would end automatic food stamp eligibility for people receiving other forms of federal assistance.

The Trump administration presented its proposal, which is open for public comment, as an effort to root out "fraud." But lawmakers disputed that rationale in their letter to Perdue.

"USDA . . . erroneously asserts that higher income individuals take advantage of SNAP benefits," the letter stated. "In reality, fraud is virtually nonexistent in this program; just 0.2 percent of benefits mistakenly go to households with net incomes above the poverty line. Further, there are many more people who qualify for SNAP that are not enrolled in the program."

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"USDA's resources would be better spent focusing on increasing participation among all who are eligible," the lawmakers continued, "rather than trying to limit participation among people who are already struggling."

A number of Sanders's rivals for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination signed the letter, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Cory Booker (N.J.), Kamala Harris (Calif.), Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), and Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.).

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Read the full letter: