The Louisiana EBT ( Electronic Benefits Transfer) Card is called the Louisiana Purchase Card. It is like a bank debit card that holds the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and/or Cash benefits that are deposited into one's EBT account each month.
Image: The Advocate(Baton Rouge)

The Jindal administration vowed late Wednesday to strip food stamp benefits from recipients who misled retailers about their spending limits during a technical malfunction.

Recipients who walked away with groceries that exceeded their food stamp balances face losing their benefits for a year, two years or permanently depending on how many prior infractions they have. Exactly how many stand to be punished is unclear. More than 12,000 transactions generated insufficient funds notices once the electronic benefit transfer, or EBT, system came back online Oct. 12 and retailers could process stored transactions.

However, retailers might have repeatedly run transactions through in an attempt to get payment on groceries sold when the system was down.

Suzy Sonnier, secretary of the state Department of Children and Family Services, said the Jindal administration will start with the most egregious cases first.

“We must protect the program for those who receive and use their benefits appropriately according to the law. We are looking at each case individually, addressing those recipients who are suspected of misrepresenting their eligibility for benefits or defrauding the system,” Sonnier said in a prepared statement.

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