NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The New Orleans City Council president is going to go without food Thursday to protest a Jindal administration decision to cut off food stamps for tens of thousands of people.
On Thursday, Council President Jason Williams says he will fast for the day as he joins a protest organized by a New Orleans group called Stand with Dignity.
Jindal let a federal waiver expire that allowed adults aged 18 to 49 without children to receive food stamps without a work requirement. The change affects more than 60,000 food stamp recipients. Soon those recipients will need to work at least 20 hours per week or be enrolled in a federally-approved job training program to receive benefits.
Stand with Dignity calls these requirements "unreasonably harsh."
