Gov. Jeff Landry and legislative leaders are working to ensure that nearly 800,000 Louisianans who rely on federal food assistance will continue to receive benefits next month as Washington prepares to shut the spigot. The plan calls for Louisiana to tap Medicaid funding and rainy-day reserves to pay Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program(SNAP) benefits while the federal government remains shut down. The Louisiana Illuminator’s Julie O’Donoghue reports:
Landry issued an executive order Friday directing the state to cover the costs of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, for Nov. 1-4. The Louisiana House of Representatives followed with a 97-0 vote Friday for an “urgent request” that would allow state money to be used for the program until the federal shutdown ends. … “Kudos to the Legislature for making this a priority and stopping the disruption of the program,” said Jan Moller, executive director of Invest in Louisiana, a nonprofit organization that pushes for policies that benefit low-income people.
Landry’s executive order is less encompassing than what legislative leaders are aiming for:
[Landry’s’ order] only extends benefits for a short period of time, the first four days of November, but legislators want to preserve SNAP benefits for multiple months if necessary, their leaders said. … The priority for Landry and lawmakers is to ensure seniors and people with disabilities who are enrolled in the program – and receive their benefits at the beginning of the month before others – see no delay in benefits at the end of next week, [Senate President Cameron Henry] said.
The initial $150 million the state plans to spend to keep food assistance benefits running in November would come from the Louisiana Department of Health. O’Donoghue explains where the rest of the funds will come from if the federal shutdown creeps into December and beyond:
The legislators hope the health department can find enough money for the entire month of November, such that a delay in SNAP benefits for anyone wouldn’t be necessary. Lawmakers are also making plans to draw down money from a state savings account, called the Revenue Stabilization Trust Fund, to backfill money the health department spends and to pay for future SNAP benefits if the federal shutdown extends beyond November, [Rep. Jack] McFarland said.
Reality check: President Donald Trump’s administration has said it doesn’t have the money to pay November SNAP benefits. But the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the program, has contingency funds set aside to pay benefits and is legally required to use them.
Gerrymandering game has no winners
The Louisiana Legislature advanced two bills along party lines on Saturday that would push back the state’s April primary elections by a month. Democratic lawmakers continued to criticize the objectives of the current special session, which Gov. Jeff Landry and Republican lawmakers are using to prepare for a Supreme Court ruling that could eviscerate the federal Voting Rights Act. The Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Will Sutton explains why everyone is a loser in this latest gerrymandering game:
As the Louisiana Legislature continues its redistricting special session, keep these things in mind. Louisiana has six congressional districts. Four seats are held by Republicans. Two seats are held by Democrats, both Black: U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, and U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge. This very Legislature approved the maps that give us this near-equal representation. Now it seems they are eager to disavow that decision. Imagine Louisiana, a state with more than 30% Black people, not having a single Black representative in Congress. Or imagine the state with only one, after fighting for years to get near-equal representation.
How shutdown is affecting Louisiana’s federal workers
Wednesday will mark a full month that the federal government has been shut down, and there’s no indication that a deal between congressional leaders is near. The Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Mark Ballard explains how Louisiana’s federal workers are being pinched by the stalemate:
In Louisiana, that means 15,235 active-duty military personnel at three major bases won’t get paid at the end of the week, reports the Defense Department. … Many of the 19,537 civilian federal workers in Louisiana also didn’t receive paychecks Friday. They include federal law enforcement, park rangers, immigration officials, Transportation Security Administration agents, FEMA responders and air traffic controllers. And 19,715 National Guard and reserve members in Louisiana receive at least part of their pay from the federal government.
The Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Stephanie Riegel reports that the shutdown is also affecting other areas of the state’s economy:
Just because the effects of the shutdown are not widely visible, however, doesn’t mean they’re not being felt in various pockets of the economy, (Invest in Louisiana’s Jan) Moller said. The National Flood Insurance Program is shuttered, which means new homeowners are unable to buy into the program, and the state’s existing 400,000 policyholders aren’t able to increase their coverage. Louisiana’s 25,000 farmers have been unable to get a loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, apply for a conservation program or receive a market report, hampering their ability to plan for the upcoming planting season. And the state’s nearly half a million small businesses have been unable to access loans through the Small Business Administration, though data released by the SBA last week showed that only 12 loan applications totaling about $7.2 million in Louisiana went unprocessed last week because the agency was closed.
Medicaid cuts are indefensible
The federal tax and budget megabill cuts Medicaid by nearly a trillion dollars over the next decade. Former state Senate President Randy Ewing, writing in a letter to the Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate, explains why this move is not morally or fiscally defensible:
Under The Big Beautiful Bill passed by Congress this summer greatly reducing Medicaid, our government fails this moral test. The cuts over 10 years can adversely affect a million and a half children and adults in Louisiana. Forty-two percent of the state’s children receive health care through Medicaid funding from LA CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program). Four hundred thousand seniors and people with disabilities also receive support from Medicaid, including many nursing home residents. … Please contact your congressional representatives asking that Medicaid support for Louisiana children, the elderly and the disabled be fully funded.
Number of the Day
$50,800 – Median salary needed to afford a studio apartment in New Orleans, which is $4,830 more than the median wage in the city. (Source: The Economist via The Advocate)