Limbaugh baselessly claimed people targeted by proposed food stamp cuts "aren't using them anyway"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200510240016On the October 19 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh baselessly suggested that more than $500 million in proposed cuts to the food stamps program would be harmless because the money was not being used anyway. After reading from an October 19 New York Times article about the Senate agriculture committee's decision to shelve the proposal "that could have cut off food stamps to an estimated 300,000 people," Limbaugh added this phrase: "who aren't using them anyway." But as news accounts have made clear, the 300,000 people who stood to lose their benefits are current food stamp recipients.
A transcript (subscription required) of the segment posted on Limbaugh's website makes clear that the "who aren't using them anyway" comment is not part of the Times story. On his show, however, Limbaugh did not alert listeners to the fact that the comment was his own.
In any case, Limbaugh's claim was baseless. An October 13 article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette explained that the proposed food stamp cuts would have changed eligibility rules "so that those who qualify for state welfare assistance will no longer automatically qualify for food stamps" and instead would have to meet the federal means test applied to other food stamp recipients. According to Senate agriculture committee spokesman Keith Williams, that change would have pushed as many as 300,000 people off of food stamps.
An October 6 Associated Press article offered a similar assessment of the proposed cuts: The $574 million cut in food stamps would come from restricting access to this benefit for certain families that, because they receive other government assistance, receive food stamps without going through the application process. The restriction would shut an estimated 300,000 people out of the program.
Chambliss' spokesman said the change would apply to families that do not meet eligibility requirements and that eligible families still will receive food stamps.