{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20140221021107/http://www.vitter.senate.gov/newsroom/press/vitter-urges-louisiana-officials-to-take-action-on-ebt-card-fraud", "Vitter Urges Louisiana Officials to Take Action on EBT Card Fraud", "2013-11-04", "2013", "2013-11", "Republican", "House", "LA", "David Vitter", "V000127", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "Vitter Urges Louisiana Officials to Take Action on EBT Card Fraud\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\tAttorney General and DCFS currently deferring to USDA and Louisiana retailers\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tMonday, November 4, 2013\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t(Washington, D.C.) \u2013 U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) today responded to letters from Louisiana\u2019s Attorney General Buddy Caldwell and Secretary of Department of Children and Family Services Suzy Sonnier regarding his recommendations for aggressive action in response to fraud that occurred during an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) system outage in north Louisiana. Vitter sent his recommendations in a letter on October 30.\n\u201cI\u2019m extremely disappointed in the response I\u2019ve gotten from state officials,\u201d Vitter said. \u201cThere should be serious consequences for the outrageous theft and fraud at these Louisiana retailers, and the state has authority in disqualifying and prosecuting any guilty EBT recipient.\u201d\nCaldwell and Sonnier committed to Vitter\u2019s request that no reimbursements be made to retailers who did not follow proper protocol. However, they have refused to prosecute any beneficiaries guilty of theft or fraud and deferred to USDA on disqualifying or suspending any beneficiaries. Vitter has asked Caldwell and Sonnier for a follow up meeting in Baton Rouge.\nThe text of Vitter\u2019s letter to Caldwell and Sonnier is below.\n  November 4, 2013\nBuddy Caldwell  Office of the Attorney General  State of Louisiana  P.O. Box 94005  Baton Rouge, LA 70821\nSuzy Sonnier  Office of the Secretary  Department of Children and Family Services  P.O. Box 3776  Baton Rouge, LA 70821\n  Dear Attorney General Caldwell and Secretary Sonnier:\nThank you for your quick responses to my letter of October 30 regarding the outrageous incidents of food stamp theft and fraud in Louisiana on October 14.\nThank you also for clearly committing to not reimburse any vendor above any beneficiaries' benefit limits, my first request. Unfortunately, in contrast to this, I found your responses to my second and third requests really disappointing and inadequate.\nMy second request urged you to disqualify or suspend from the program beneficiaries guilty of this theft and fraud. In response to this, you basically stated that you are asking permission to pursue suspensions from the program from the Obama administration, namely USDA. Why? All relevant law clearly gives the state authority to administer the program, including authority to disqualify or suspend those guilty of theft or fraud (7 USC 2015(b)). You clearly do not have to get federal permission to do this with regard to every individual enforcement action.\nSo I again urge you to take such action in these cases without first asking permission unnecessarily from the Obama administration. Given the administration's support for the almost limitless expansion of the food stamp program, I think their granting this unnecessary permission unlikely.\nMy third request urged you to prosecute these same beneficiaries. In response to this, you stated that this decision is up to the retailers involved. No, it isn't. Such a prosecuting decision is always up to the public prosecutor with appropriate jurisdiction. Walmart and other retailers no doubt want to pass on urging prosecution because they screwed up and, quite frankly, because they benefit from most food stamp fraud in their stores.\nSo again, I urge you to form a task force with the prosecutors in the local jurisdictions involved to aggressively prosecute these crimes. As I stated in my October 30 letter, these prosecutions will be fully supported by ample computer/EBT account evidence and do not depend on the active cooperation of the retailers involved.\nI would like to personally meet with both of you in Baton Rouge to discuss this further in the very near future. Thank you again for your service to Louisiana.\n  Sincerely,\nDavid Vitter   U.S. Senator\nCc: The Honorable Bobby Jindal", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://web.archive.org/web/20140221021107/http://www.vitter.senate.gov/newsroom/press/vitter-urges-louisiana-officials-to-take-action-on-ebt-card-fraud"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.48486765101552, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}