A GOP budget resolution that is set for a House vote on Tuesday would cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, more commonly known as food stamps, by $230 billion. The move is part of a broad effort by conservatives to cut safety-net programs to partially finance $900 billion in tax cuts for the wealthy and large, profitable corporations. Katie Bergh of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities explains:
Deep SNAP cuts would worsen food insecurity, hurt local businesses, and weaken SNAP’s ability to boost jobs in every state. SNAP is highly effective at reducing food insecurity and poverty, and research links SNAP participation to better health outcomes and lower health care costs. Regardless of how lawmakers impose $230 billion or more in cuts to SNAP, these cuts would make it harder for low-income families in every state to afford groceries, worsening food insecurity and hardship. Slashing low-income households’ grocery budgets would also reduce revenue for thousands of businesses in every state, with ripple effects throughout the food supply chain.
Invest in Louisiana’s district and parish fact sheets have data showing SNAP’s impact on every Louisiana community. The Department of Children and Family Services has a helpful page with detailed data about SNAP and other public assistance programs.
Permanent funding for domestic violence shelters
Gov. Jeff Landry voiced his support for funding domestic violence shelters on Monday after his budget proposal cut the vital services by $7 million. The governor attributed the reduction to the temporary nature of the funding, which he committed to making permanent. The Louisiana Illuminator’s Julie O’Donoghue reports:
In 2023 and 2024, legislators had added the money but did not put it permanently into the budget. “I am committed to work with the Legislature to ensure there is a higher funding base for these services, and that it remains permanently in our budget, rather than as one time funding,” Landry said in his statement. The governor did not say he would provide the full $7 million, but his spokeswoman Kate Kelly, said he wanted to find enough money, possibly the whole $7 million, such that services weren’t reduced or cut.
On the front lines of historic reading gains
Louisiana education leaders are largely attributing their students’ historic reading gains to new state literacy standards. The new approach uses the so-called “science of reading” to focus more on letters and sounds than relying on context clues. The Times Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Elyse Carmosino reports from St. Charles Parish, where teachers are embracing the new method:
While the process was difficult, Norco [Elementary School] staff and teachers say that their students have seen undeniable success, as demonstrated by rising test scores. The old methods “served us really well at certain times in the past, but now we have more advanced research,” said assistant superintendent Erin Granier, who called the new approach “a game-changer.” Now, “we know how kids learn to read.”
Louisiana lawmakers push back on NOAA cuts
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which helps states track and prepare for hurricanes and other extreme-weather events, could be in the crosshairs of Elon Musk’s DOGE. Helen Huiskes of NOTUS explains how this move is creating anxiety for lawmakers from disaster-prone Louisiana.
“I’m deeply concerned that cuts to the NOAA could jeopardize our ability to track hurricanes and respond to extreme weather, threats that Louisianians know all too well,” Democratic Rep. Troy Carter told NOTUS in an email. “Slashing funding for NOAA is not just reckless; it’s dangerous.” … “There’s no state equivalent to NOAA that can handle the business that we do around the world with NOAA,” [Rep. Clay] Higgins said. “So we’re going to have to fix what’s wrong with NOAA and keep it.”
Number of the Day
4,400 – Number of Louisiana retailers that are at risk of losing revenue under a GOP budget proposal that cuts $230 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. (Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)