As forecasters are predicting another active hurricane season, President Donald Trump’s administration has killed a Federal Emergency Management Agency program that financed infrastructure upgrades, such as raising homes and building levees, to mitigate damages from natural disasters. The Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Mark Ballard reports:
The end of the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, called BRIC, effectively spikes 148 applications worth $721,281,559 in Louisiana, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s financial obligations database. … FEMA has stopped accepting applications for 2024 and is canceling projects on the drawing board from 2020 to 2023. Approved grant funds that have not been distributed will be returned to the Disaster Relief Fund or the U.S. Treasury, according to FEMA. Plus, the agency is looking for ways to claw back money already paid out. For Louisiana, that could translate to about $282 million.
Local leaders are not amused:
“It’s going to be a tough pill to swallow for communities like ours,” Lafourche Parish President Archie Chaisson III said Tuesday. His parish government has overseen levee-heightening projects, along with water pump improvements and other infrastructure measures have cut down on damage from frequent storms.
Louisiana’s congressional delegation mostly dodged questions:
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Benton, and U.S. Sen. John N. Kennedy, R-Madisonville, didn’t even reply to requests for comment. … “By eliminating resiliency funding, the Trump-Musk Administration is harming communities who are trying to mitigate future disasters,” said Democratic U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, whose New Orleans-based district has been repeatedly ravaged by strong hurricanes, including Katrina in 2005 and Ida in 2021.
Mike Johnson’s constituents need Medicaid
House Speaker Mike Johnson played a key role in crafting a budget blueprint that would cut $880 billion, largely from the Medicaid program that serves people with low incomes and disabilities. KFF’s Phil Galewitz explains how the federal health care program is a lifeline for Johnson’s constituents and the rest of Louisiana.
Last year nearly 290,000 people in Johnson’s district were enrolled in Medicaid, about 38% of the total population, according to data compiled by KFF, the health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News. … Louisiana ranks second in Medicaid enrollment, at nearly 32% — a reflection of the state’s high poverty rate.
Medicaid cuts could affect people like Chloe Stovall, 23, who works in the produce aisle of a local grocery store in Vivian:
She doesn’t own a car and walks a mile to work. The store provides health coverage, but she said she won’t qualify until she’s worked there for a full year — and even then, it will cost more than Medicaid, which is free. … Vivian has few large employers, and most employers pay the minimum wage, which hasn’t changed since 2009. “We are just stuck,” Stovall said.
A flat rate for TOPS
The amount of a TOPS scholarship would no longer be based on a school’s tuition and instead be allocated at a flat rate under Rep. Chris Turner’s House Bill 77. The result would be that students attending less expensive, regional schools would pay less, but those attending more expensive universities would pay more. The Louisiana Illuminator’s Piper Hutchinson explains how award amounts would change and which schools would be negatively impacted:
If Turner’s bill passes, the base-level amount, which approximately half of Louisiana TOPS students receive, would be $6,000 annually, TOPS Performance students, who have at least a 3.25 GPA and a 23 ACT score, would receive $6,500. TOPS Honors students, who have at least a 3.5 GPA and a 27 ACT score, would receive $9,000. The bill’s proposed TOPS Excellence award, the new highest amount, would be $12,000. Because the current base TOPS level is above $6,500 at LSU and UNO, both institutions could lose millions in state funding under Turner’s plan, while most other schools in the state would see a boost.
Hutchinson explains how a new state law could allow less expensive schools to eat up increased TOPS scholarships:
For some schools with lower tuition and fees, the new award amounts would create an excess for students. Under present law, that money would be applied to students’ room and board expenses, which typically are paid out of pocket. But under a new law the legislature approved last year, schools have complete autonomy to raise their fees, meaning they could increase the cost of attendance to meet the new award amount — and increase their revenues.
2017 tax law did not boost economy
The benefits of the 2017 Trump tax law, which heavily favored the wealthy and large corporations, did not “trickle down” to people with lower incomes and the broader economy. That’s the conclusion of Gbenga Ajilore, chief economist for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Ajilore explains how the law did not create the economic growth that proponents promised and cautions congressional leaders against extending expiring provisions of the ineffective law:
Proponents of the 2017 tax law made a lot of promises about how it would boost the economy. These effects were never borne out in the data; there was no significant impact on GDP growth, investment, or wages. Instead, the 2017 tax law reduced federal revenues and exacerbated income and wealth inequality by giving more money to households with incomes in the top 1 percent. Extending the 2017 tax law along with a combination of cuts to Medicaid and SNAP and sweeping tariffs will result in higher costs for low- and moderate-income families while the rich get large tax cuts.
Number of the Day
33% – Percentage share of Louisiana workers whose pay would increase under a congressional bil that would raise the minimum wage to $17 per hour by 2030. The average annual wage increase for the affected workers would be $5,193. (Source: Economic Policy Institute)