WILL SUTTON: Gov. Jeff Landry rescues SNAP benefits, but dodges health insurance crisis

I can't say for sure, but I think the combination of thousands of federal employees not getting paychecks and thousands more not eating enough were the two reasons the 2025 shutdown ended.

Gov. Jeff Landry couldn't do anything about the first. He could do something about the second. And he did.

He deserves kudos.

In the early days of the shutdown, Landry scrambled like other governors to figure out what the heck was going on as they determined how they could take care of some of our most vulnerable. During an interview with me on WBOK 1230 AM's "The Good Morning Show" on Thursday morning, he said he's one of the first governors to see the problem and take action. Now he's making sure everyone who gets Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits gets what the government owes them.

"Now that the government is opened, everybody is going to get filled," the governor said. "All of the food stamp cards are going to be filled for the month of November."

That wasn't what I understood when Landry said when he announced that the state would come through with state funds to help most Louisiana SNAP beneficiaries. Most. Not all.

In October, the governor signed an executive order specifically covering the first four days of this month to make sure that SNAP seniors, the disabled and children were covered, and he was explicitly clear that able-bodied adult SNAP recipients without children would not get assistance. The governor said they could get one of the 114,000 jobs available in the state or find a food bank.

Heartless.

At another point, he told me that seniors and the disabled would get some lagniappe, my word, not his. He said "something extra." When I asked what that meant, he couldn't answer. I mean, if someone tells me I'm getting something extra, unless it's a family member suggesting that I'll be getting one more meatball, then I want to know specifics. Am I getting 2 cents, $2 or $200 extra?

Landry promised to call with more information, and he did. Landry told me everyone on SNAP would get their benefits.

Good. Very good.

He also explained what "extra" meant.

Seniors and disabled SNAP beneficiaries who have already had 85% of their usual monthly benefit loaded onto their SNAP cards will get another 35%, a one-time payment happening as the government sorts out what happened. Landry said on the phone that there were many moving parts and it was "like taking a train and putting it on a different set of tracks."

More than 40 million people in our country receive SNAP benefits each month. That's more than 12% of our nation's population. In Louisiana, we've got about 800,000 SNAP recipients. That's about 17% of our state's population.

According to the Pew Research Center, among those who are eligible, qualified and approved SNAP recipients, more than 44% are non-Hispanic White people, 27% are Black and about 22% are Hispanic. Pop! There goes that balloon that says most SNAP beneficiaries are Black.

The Louisiana Department of Health, which oversees SNAP, has the state divided in regions with groups of parishes. The region that has the largest number of SNAP recipients includes Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes with about 145,000 people. The Lafayette region includes Acadia, Evangeline, Iberia, Lafayette, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary and Vermilion parishes with about 131,000. The region that includes East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberville, Pointe Coupee, West Baton Rouge and West Feliciana parishes has about 94,000.

When the governor decided to make good on SNAP benefits as federal officials figured out what they were going to do, it wasn't just kindness in his heart. Many SNAP recipients are his voters.

I'll give the guv credit for putting meals on the tables of SNAP recipients. But his party is refusing to extend ACA tax credits beyond Dec. 31. Keeping people fed is one thing. Keeping them insured is another. When these tax credits expire, individual premiums will likely skyrocket. What's going to happen in Louisiana then, I asked. "That's a great question," he responded. "Maybe you can get (U.S. Rep.) Troy (Carter) or some of the congressional delegation on the phone and talk about that."

Actually, I talk with Carter almost weekly. I welcome conversations — on the air, on the telephone, over a cup of coffee — with any of our congressional representatives. That includes the two most powerful men in the U.S. House of Representatives: House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson.

Landry didn't mention them by name. He told me he can deal with only one chaos at a time.

With the SNAP chaos ending, I hope he'll get Johnson and Scalise on the phone and prevent a chaos in the making.