About 49,000 Louisiana residents could be impacted by the Trump administration’s new work requirement changes for food stamp recipients. DCFS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Family Support Sammy Guillory says currently Louisiana is one of the states who receives a waiver that allows able-bodied adults who do not have dependents to receive food stamps for more than three-months, but that statewide waiver is set to go away.

“Since the original welfare reform passed in 1996, a policy said ABAWDs can only receive SNAP benefits for three months out of a 36-month period and we’ve had a waiver of that policy since that time,” said Guillory.

The new rule will go into effect on April 1st, so recipients will not lose their food assistance during the holidays. Guillory says when April rolls around, DCFS will work on a case-by-case basis to see if an able-bodied adult can get food stamps for more than three months.

“No one is going to be impacted until April and even in April they will be able to receive benefits for three months,” said Guillory.

The USDA says the change in the work requirement rule will save 5.5 billion dollars over five years.

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