Debbie Wasserman Schultz: “Let us just make sure people understand and the Speaker understands that we are not talking about made-up numbers here…”

“Let us just make sure people understand and the Speaker understands that we are not talking about made-up numbers here that we are just pulling out of thin air. In the Washington Post last Thursday, another third-party validator, they describe the cuts in this bill and they go on to say, The food stamp cuts in the House measure would knock nearly 300,000 people off nutritional assistance programs, including 70,000 legal immigrants, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which is the office that we get our economic facts from. Those immigrants would lose their benefits because the House measure would require legal immigrants to live in the United States for 7 years before becoming eligible for receiving food stamps. About 40,000 children would lose eligibility for free or reduced-price lunches, the CBO estimated. The food stamp cuts, if approved, will especially affect 11 States, including Maryland, that use the changes in the food stamp law, approved with the President's support in 2002, to expand eligibility and to simplify the application process.…”