BATON ROUGE (AP) — The Obama administration agreed Wednesday to Gov. John Bel Edwards' request to waive work requirements for thousands of food stamp recipients who were threatened with the loss of benefits.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture notified the Edwards administration about the approval of the waiver, which former Gov. Bobby Jindal allowed to expire last year.
Edwards sent a letter to the Agriculture Department seeking the waiver saying Louisiana's high unemployment rate qualifies it to skip the work mandate.
Without intervention from the USDA, 31,000 people could have lost their food stamps with the start of the new year, according to the Edwards' administration. The food assistance — estimated to cost $72 million for the 31,000 people over the next year — is paid for by the federal government, not the state.
The work requirements were supposed to launch Jan. 1 for adults ages 18 to 49 without children. To receive food stamps through the Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program, or SNAP, those childless adults would have had to work at least 20 hours per week or be enrolled in a federally approved job training program.
Edwards sought a one-year extension of the waiver.
The USDA letter, provided to The Associated Press by the Edwards administration, grants the work requirement waiver from Dec. 1, 2015, through Nov. 30 of this year.
Louisiana's Department of Children and Family Services received the waiver on the same day it sent the request to the USDA, said Julie Baxter Payer, deputy chief of staff to Edwards.
"No one was cut off of benefits," Payer said.
Some food stamp recipients, however, might see a short delay in getting their monthly assistance. Payer said the latest people will get their regular benefits is Jan. 20. The dollar amounts, if they were delayed, won't change, she said.
Louisiana had similar waivers for the past 19 years.
– by AP Reporter Melinda Deslatte
