The Senate deal to end the government shutdown did not include an extension of health care tax credits that made coverage through the federal Marketplace affordable, a key demand from Democrats. The Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Will Sutton explains how the failure to renew these crucial credits could create a health care shutdown in Louisiana and the rest of the nation:
But these things are also true: The shutdown’s resolution will only keep the government open through January. Without an extension of health care tax credits, lots of people with mid-level health insurance might see monthly increases of more than $600. … There are more than 24 million people who rely on the ACA for health care, including 280,000 to 300,000 on the ACA marketplace in Louisiana, yet Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, has so far refused to agree that the House of Representatives would consider extending health care benefits.
A new fact sheet from Invest in Louisiana and Families USA shows what’s at stake if Congress does not renew the health care tax credits.
SNAP tussle continuesÂ
The U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration on Tuesday by allowing the Agriculture Department to withhold full federal food assistance benefits during the government shutdown. The ruling on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance benefits will expire late Thursday. The New York Times’ Abbie VanSickle reports:
Roughly 42 million Americans use monthly SNAP benefits to buy groceries. Although the government has enough money in reserves to fund the program, Mr. Trump has refused to do so. The president’s actions in the fight over funding the food stamp program during the shutdown stand in stark contrast with the other ways he has rearranged the budget as the government remained closed, including billions to pay for officers conducting mass deportations.
The longest government shutdown in U.S. history could end on Wednesday when the House votes on a Senate-backed budget measure. But as the AP’s Geoff Mulvihill explains, it could take time for food assistance benefits to reload once the government reopens:
States say it’s faster to provide full benefits than it is to do the calculations and computer programming required for partial amounts. … So far, 16 states — including Illinois and Texas — have loaded the EBT cards used in SNAP with partial benefits. [Share Our Strength’s Carolyn] Vega said some of those states might run into some technical hurdles to issue the remaining amount.
Jacob Fischler and Ashley Murray of States Newsroom provide a timeline on the back and forth tussle over SNAP benefits.
A costly tax dodge
Under the previous administration, the IRS worked to crack down on a tax maneuver that allowed wealthy business owners to avoid having Social Security and Medicare taxes withheld from their paychecks. Many Wall Street insiders assumed this effort would not last and continued to use the loophole. The New York Times’ Andrew Duehren reports that one of those insiders was current Treasury Secretary and acting IRS commissioner Scott Bessent:
Like many firms on Wall Street, Mr. Bessent’s hedge fund, Key Square Capital Management, was set up as a limited partnership. Through that structure, Mr. Bessent avoided paying roughly $910,000 in Medicare taxes on money he made running his hedge fund in 2021, 2022 and 2023, according to a memorandum prepared by Democratic Senate staff for Mr. Bessent’s confirmation hearing in January. … Mr. Bessent has stood by the tax maneuver. During his confirmation process to lead the Treasury Department, which oversees the I.R.S., Mr. Bessent said he would not follow the I.R.S. position that limited partners like him owed those self-employment taxes.
The lost revenue from this tax avoidance is massive:
The forgone government revenue is substantial: A Democratic plan to impose a parallel, equivalent tax on these earnings was expected to raise more than $250 billion over 10 years. But it failed to pass Congress during the Biden administration.
Alabama leads way on disaster resilience
It has been 14 years since deadly tornados ripped through Alabama and killed 240 people. Since then, the Yellowhammer state has become a leader in disaster readiness and provided a blueprint for other states. As Pew’s Mathew Sanders explains, this effort includes the first-in-the-nation fortified roof program:
Since then, the Strengthen Alabama Homes (SAH) program has become a national model, replicated in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and South Carolina. … To date, the program has awarded more than $86 million in grants, retrofitted over 8,700 homes, and brought the number of homes in Alabama that meet the industry standards to more than 53,000—the most in the country.
Alabama leaders worked to create a more holistic and statewide model for disaster resilience:
That work reached a milestone in Executive Order 736, which Governor Ivey issued in May 2023, establishing the Alabama Resilience Council (ARC) to coordinate resilience-related activities across state government and facilitate collaboration with the private sector. The order positioned resilience not just as a policy ambition, but as a practical and operational priority.
Number of the Day
$16.56 – Average cost of a cheeseburger, fries and soda order on DoorDash in New Orleans, lower than the median U.S. price of $18.58 (Source: Axios)