BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — U.S. Sen. David Vitter says state leaders haven't done enough to aggressively pursue food stamp recipients who overspent their balance when the electronic food stamp service was down last month.

Several Louisianaretailers allowed food stamp recipients to make unlimited purchases on Oct. 12 when balances couldn't be checked.

Vitter sent a letter Monday complaining to state social services secretary Suzy Sonnier and Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, urging them to penalize people who knowingly spent too much.

Sonnier asked federal officials for permission to suspend food stamp benefits for recipients who overspent and hasn't received a decision. Both Sonnier and Caldwell say they don't have control over whether fraud cases are prosecuted.

Sonnier says her department's lawyers are taking another look at state options for punishing people for fraud.

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