Is Congress For Real?

For something unusual or fake: "This building is a bastard Gothic style, not the real thing."

One little life. This is a very brief narrative of how the government shut down and the Big Bastardly Bill, [BBB] has affected one little life in 24 hours.

Because yesterday, I spent an hour on the phone getting my insurance plan. November is open enrollment. My insurance agent and I agreed upon a plan, except that in 60 days, that plan may cost $864 more than it does today. “We will cross that bridge when we get to it,” he said. Oh joy, I thought, soon, very soon, I will be among the marginalized. My 36 years of being disabled have never made me feel like a loser. How deeply sad it is that my government has voted to undo me. It is hard to claim dignity when, “You’re one of them uninsured folk.”

And today, in conversation with a young friend of mine who was suddenly and tragically orphaned at 13, I learned that her disability payments were cut because her husband made too much money. For one month, he made almost $ 4,000, his typical monthly take-home being under $800. One decent paycheck and they’re on their own! He’s not lazy, just screwed. Should the government stay shut, in 3 days, this family with a baby on the way will lose their food benefits. That big tsunami of wealth that the husband worked for better stretch into the shutdown. And, he is an immigrant with a master’s degree and all his papers, so he should have no problem getting a good, consistent job in trumps America!

So my son is disabled too; we are such a drain on society! But mine counts because you can see it. His does not because it is a brain disease. In the bible, they called it demonic possession; now we call it epilepsy. But anyway… His girlfriend moved into his apartment. She makes a 2-digit number an hour! The two-digit number that starts with a “1” is so much money that my son has been cut from his food assistance program. He has his daughter 60% of the time. The good thing is, little Mo is too busy to have much of an appetite at 3 years old. I don’t think she’ll notice the food crunch. I think Congress is possessed by a demon.

To be sure, if I don’t have to pay an extra $864 for my healthcare, I will be able to help them with food. But, if I do get terribly sick and lose all things good to pay off my uninsured medical bill, then my son may become a looter, “Like the rest of those low-life scum bags.” I might help him loot too, because I will be one angry granny! I hope they get a pic of me with my grey-haired, 1armed self stealing the Cheetos from the snack aisle. I won’t be picking healthy things either, my angry belly wants junk food! “Look at that granny stealing, what has the world come to?” those on great government health plans will say.

And today is 4 days from 1 of my most severely ill clients losing her food benefits. She has no car, but the good news is that she lives within walking distance of the “grocery store.” She dreads going to the store because she lives in a very unsafe neighborhood. She typically stocks her shelves with goodies to avoid the leers and bad behaviors associated with walking in her impoverished neighborhood. I need to tell her to watch the news so she knows if her government is allowed to cut her check this month. If the grocery store is unsafe, I wonder how traumatizing food lines will be? $298 does not go far, stretching it is hard for clear-thinking folks; she probably didn’t put “buy as much as you can because the government is likely to quit work next month” on her shopping list. And she has no granny to help her out. She is 100% alone. I met her when I worked at a residential unit 27 years ago. She was a child. This year, trump has pulled more than $47 million from the hospital that treated her mental illness and provided her with support and love. “Damn lazy, good for good-for-nothing children deserve it!”

Returning to the theme of “One Little life.” I work hard to help people, and I believe everyone should be able to afford therapy. I do not take insurance because it is a corrupt system that almost bankrupted me in a long-ago group practice. I see many clients for a nominal fee. Should their benefits be cut, I will lose clients because they do not have spare change for therapy. Which means I don’t have spare change for Mo, which means I am looting again!

Healed people heal people. Congresspeople must be hurt because they hurt people. Oh but just “lazy people who can somehow afford a cell phone.”

Don’t believe what you read about the people this BBB and the shutdown are going to affect. Ask the CEO of a company that provides services for developmentally disabled adults. The company I contract with will have 5 homes that will have no food money coming in next week. Praise god, they have hired the kindest people on earth to care for their consumers. I promise you, the food will be bought by their caretakers, without fret. Good, hard-working people who don’t get to shut down because Congress is closed for business.

But maybe the government will open back up tomorrow! Even if it does, the GOP remains morally depraved when open. “A July 2025 analysis from the Center for American Progress projected that the “One Big Beautiful Bill” could cut federal spending on Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) by $1.02 trillion and eliminate at least 10.5 million people from the programs by 2034.”

So what now? It’s just one little acrostic thought, but I don’t like Congress, I don’t like trump, and I do hope that one day all these “little lives”- these meek and humble folks do inherit the earth. Because this injustice is cruel. These little lives matter to those of us who remain committed to a population of people who need people. The shutdown and the BBB represent all that is wrong with America. Let’s shut down the clowns! Check out Forwardparty.com – a humane and just 3^rd option.