BATON ROUGE — As the federal government shutdown continues, Governor Jeff Landry announced Louisiana will use state funds to keep food assistance flowing for its most vulnerable residents. Last week the governor announced that hundreds of thousands of people across the state would lose their SNAP benefits beginning November 1 because of the shutdown.
Nearly 800,000 people, about one in five Louisianians, were expected to lose their SNAP benefits beginning November 1. Landry said the state’s emergency declaration, issued October 23, allows Louisiana to temporarily cover benefits for recipients while federal funding is paused.
“This declaration allows us to tap into state funds to continue to provide food assistance for the elderly, the disabled, and children,” he said. “While the federal funding is paused, the state will provide a temporary state-funded assistance.”
Landry explained that not all EBT cards are loaded on November first, but instead on a set date each month. “The first four days of the month, those beneficiaries who are elderly and disabled have their cards loaded for the first four days of the month. And then after that, every other day, a group is loaded,” he said. “We have been pouring through the demographics, through the data, to ensure that we can segregate the cardholders, to ensure that we are capturing the most vulnerable in that category.”
“Those on the program who meet the criteria that I just laid out, don’t have to do anything,” Landry continued. “If you get your benefits card loaded on the first, the second, third or the fourth, don’t panic. We’ll be putting out guidance, and you will have money on that EBT card.”
The state will be putting out guidance for SNAP recipients within the next 24 hours.
Landry also encouraged Louisianians who are in a position to help to consider donating to food banks. “We’re going to start to talk about filling our food banks, because, again, what we’re doing today is not sustainable. There will come a point in time where we will not be able to load those cards,” he said.
Landry said the state has an announcement coming soon concerning food banks and how those who are more fortunate can help.
“We’re going to work tirelessly to make sure that we take care of people in Louisiana, because you know what? That’s what we do here in Louisiana,” Landry said.
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