Remember the ugly food fight in Louisiana last month?
Police had to intervene after food-stamp recipients went wild at Walmart. They did so after word got out that the Electronic Benefit Transfer cards food-stamp recipients use to cash in their benefits were showing no limits. So some went on a rampage to buy all they could.
On Wednesday, Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration announced it was going to pursue those who used the glitch in the cards to go on an illicit shopping spree. Those found to have misused their food-stamp benefits could lose them — for a year for first-time offenders, more if this is a second or third offense.
Suzy Sonnier, the secretary of Louisiana’s Department of Children and Family Services, put it this way in a statement: “We must protect the program for those who receive and use their benefits appropriately according to the law.”
Sonnier is absolutely right. As we’ve written before, food stamps are one way we help eligible, low-income Americans and their families feed themselves. But it becomes harder for America to keep these programs in place for those who need them when they are abused.
Americans are a generous people, and do not begrudge helping out their fellow citizens in distress. But politicians have an obligation to ensure the integrity of all public programs.
So congratulations to Gov. Jindal for going after those who treated a technical malfunction as a license to steal.