BATON ROUGE — State-funded Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits were recalled by the Louisiana Department of Health, officials told WBRZ on Wednesday as the government shutdown became the longest in history.
Here's the updated statement LDH sent us:
Baton Rouge, La. (November 5, 2025) — The Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) will distribute federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funds to all eligible Louisiana SNAP recipients starting November 7. The Department has also ended staff furloughs and reopened SNAP offices, effective today.
Despite the government shutdown in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is providing SNAP benefits to eligible households. Recipients will receive approximately 50% of their usual SNAP benefits, depending on household size. Benefits will be administered to recipients on their usual distribution day. Those who received state-funded emergency SNAP assistance on November 1-4, specifically the elderly and individuals with disabilities, will also receive federal benefits on November 7.
Any unused federal SNAP benefits from previous months will remain on all recipients’ Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards and can be utilized.
Eligible SNAP recipients do not need to take action to receive SNAP benefits. However, SNAP recipients must continue to meet all program requirements on time to continue their federal SNAP eligibility.
Report household changes: Continue to report any changes to your household circumstances.
Complete paperwork: Ensure you complete simplified reporting or recertification paperwork, if applicable.
Submit verification: Submit any requested verification documents:
By mail to the LDH ES Document Processing Center, P.O. Box 260031, Baton Rouge, LA 70826; or
In person at any LDH ES parish office; or
By fax to 225-663-3164.
Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) update
After receiving contingency funds from the USDA, Louisiana WIC continues to operate as normal. The WIC food packages and other services, including nutrition education and breastfeeding support, have not been changed or reduced.
Families participating in WIC are encouraged to keep their WIC appointments and use their November WIC EBT benefits as usual at authorized grocery stores.
The WIC State Agency, within the Office of Public Health, is closely monitoring the situation and working to ensure uninterrupted services. If anything should change, LDH will immediately notify WIC clinics, participants, and vendors.
LDH employee furloughs
The USDA announced it will also provide funding to state agencies to cover state administrative expenses. As a result, the Department has ended furloughs for all SNAP employees and has reopened all SNAP offices, effective today.
Earlier Wednesday, we reached out to LDH and this is what they sent us:
"We released our state-funded assistance to elderly and disabled recipients on November 1, 2, 3 and 4. Once the USDA’s guidance and White House announcement were released yesterday, we suspended the state-funded program so we could pay out federal benefits for the entire SNAP population, including able-bodied adults, the elderly, and the disabled. However, some benefits were paid out early by our SNAP EBT vendor, and those benefits were pulled back so we could give recipients a higher amount either later today or by Friday," a spokesperson said in an email. "We will be releasing a statement later today with additional information."
Here's the original information we posted:
The withdrawn funds had already been sent to elderly and disabled SNAP recipients between Nov. 1 and Nov. 4, officials told the station.
The state-funded program was suspended following the USDA’s guidance and White House announcement that it would partially fund SNAP during the shutdown using contingency funding after being ordered to do so by two separate judges, an LDH spokesperson told WBRZ.
The state suspension was done so that the state "could pay out federal benefits for the entire SNAP population, including able-bodied adults, the elderly and the disabled," the spokesperson added.
WBRZ received multiple calls from SNAP recipients concerned about their funds being withdrawn, leaving their balances at zero.
"Those benefits were pulled back so we could give recipients a higher amount either later (Wednesday) or by Friday," LDH said about the withdrawn funds.
To read the station's full story, click here.
