The American Press

SNAP provides food aid to 400,000 Louisiana families — nearly two-thirds of them elderly, disabled or children.

stock

Unsubstantiated claims of fraud in the state’s food stamp program have drawn a quick response from Marketa Garner Walters, secretary of the state Department of Children and Family Services. The department administers the federal program, now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

“It seems impossible to talk about the food stamp program without discussing the one in five Louisiana residents the program helps feed or its enormous effect on state and local economies,” Walters said in a letter to The Advocate. However, she said a conservative columnist did just that.

The secretary said her agency spends almost $2.5 million annually on fraud detection and recovery. Louisiana has one of the lowest payment error rates in the country — 1.6 percent in the state compared with 3.7 percent nationwide, she said.

Many conservatives conveniently forget on many occasions about the high poverty rate in Louisiana. SNAP provides food aid to 400,000 Louisiana families. Walters said that is 860,000 of its most vulnerable residents — nearly two-thirds of them elderly, disabled or children.

Walters said many individual families cannot cover the cost of basic survival, and “at $4 per day per person, SNAP can hardly cover the difference.”

“And there surely should be no discussion of SNAP without talking about the poverty rate,” Walters said. “It should come as no surprise that one in five Louisianans is on SNAP, when 20.2 percent of our population lives in poverty.”

The state spends $67.4 million to draw down $1.4 billion in 100 percent SNAP benefits to Louisiana families. Walters said that is less than 5 cents for every $1 in SNAP payments.

The economic benefits the secretary is talking about are the support SNAP provides for 4,500 retailers and the 25,000 jobs created throughout the state. The annual impact is $2.5 billion. Other beneficiaries, Walters said, are banks, farmers, fishermen, food wholesalers, property owners and more.

DSNAP is a related program. It provides food assistance for eligible middle-income residents who are not on SNAP but need short-term aid after a disaster like floods or tornadoes.

We urge other critics to not be so quick to misjudge a service that helps feed Louisiana families struggling to make ends meet.

{{tncms-inline content=”<p class="p1">This editorial was written by a member of the <em>American Press</em> Editorial Board. Its content reflects the collaborative opinion of the board, whose members are <strong>Crystal Stevenson</strong>,<strong> John Guidroz</strong>, retired editor <strong>Jim Beam</strong> and retired staff writer <strong>Mike Jones</strong>. </p>” id=”83a1f94d-3e2d-4c94-a539-84b193f2d66b” style-type=”info” title=”EDITORIAL BOARD” type=”relcontent”}}

This editorial was written by a member of the American Press Editorial Board. Its content reflects the collaborative opinion of the board, whose members are Crystal Stevenson, John Guidroz, retired editor Jim Beam and retired staff writer Mike Jones.