RUSH EXCERPT:
EDWARDS: "Well, I think it’s really very serious. I mean, for one, the idea that states really have the ability in their budgets to make up that difference of a loss of a federal share, I think is almost an impossibility. So many states don’t have that capacity. They rely on those programs. Those programs actually supply our food banks. They are nutrition programs in our schools. They and indeed some farmers, because they supply a lot of those food products and services, are going to lose out as well. And so this is really significant. And the states. Many states don’t have the capacity to make up the difference. And some of those states are some of the poorest states, states like Mississippi and Louisiana and Alabama, that really are not going to be able to afford this. I mean, you think about a state like West Virginia that already has deep pockets of poverty. And so it’s important to be really concerned about these. But, you know, the American people aren’t going to know unless we continue to tell them."