Gov. Jeff Landry recently praised President Donald Trump’s decision to cancel $156 million in federal funding for Louisiana’s Solar for All program, which aimed to make the electric grid more resilient and reduce energy costs for low-income communities. But as the Louisiana Illuminator’s Wesley Muller explains, the Landry administration wasn’t always opposed:
Tyler Gray, Landry’s handpicked secretary of the Department of Energy and Natural Resources, described Solar for All as a unique opportunity to build backup power systems in areas of the state at high risk from hurricanes and severe storms. “Louisiana is in a uniquely positioned to benefit from this federal investment, with so much of its population in the areas of highest risk for devastating storms, such as Hurricanes Ida and Laura in recent years, that create widespread and long-lasting power outages,” Gray stated in an April 22, 2024 news release.
The $156 million was Louisiana’s share of $7 billion in federal funding for solar energy that Trump is seeking to strike. But there are ways the state could keep those dollars.
[Attorney Jillian] Blanchard said Louisiana could easily keep the money if Gov. Landry wanted it. The state has just less than three weeks left to file a legal challenge against the EPA’s decision, she said. If the state refuses to act, Blanchard said grant subrecipients could mount their own legal challenges against the Trump administration.
Pennington Biomedical leader on federal funding cuts
The leader of LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center praised his organization’s work on diabetes, childhood obesity and other health-related issues at the Rotary Club of Baton Rouge on Wednesday, but acknowledged the precarious situation scientific research is in amid massive federal cuts. The Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Christopher Cartwright reports:
[John] Kirwan … also acknowledged the uncertainty facing the center with national grant revocations, which have had an impact. “I’m not going to sugarcoat the challenges we’re facing. Science is under pressure today, and we face new challenges,” he said. “Federal funding is less predictable than ever; public confusion about health advice is growing; misinformation spreads faster than facts.”
Shifting costs to states
The Trump tax and spending bill shifts billions of dollars in health care and other costs to states. Amy Hanauer, executive director for the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, writing in Other Words, explains why states will struggle to make up the difference:
Federal funds provided more than one of every three dollars that states spent last year — and much more in places like Mississippi, Indiana, and South Dakota. In Louisiana, federal aid delivers fully half of state spending. But we’re likely to see layoffs of federal employees in every state — and potentially of state and local employees whose paychecks rely on federal dollars, too. For families, it means less access to the basics.
States will need to get creative as the federal government pulls back:
Localities have options too: enacting mansion taxes, as cities in California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, New Mexico, and New York have done, and passing local income taxes as thousands of communities in Ohio, Indiana, and 13 other states do. At the very least, local policymakers could rein in costly corporate tax breaks that shortchange schools.
Louisiana embraces MAHA
A new state law puts Louisiana at the forefront of President Donald Trump and U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement. Among other things, Act 463 by Rep. Patrick McMath bans a host of artificial colors and additives from being used in school meals and encourages schools to buy food locally. The Shreveport Times’ Greg Hilburn reports:
Louisiana’s MAHA movement has received bipartisan support, with McMath’s bill securing unanimous passage in both the Senate and House. … “This is by far and away the most comprehensive MAHA bill in the country right now,” McMath said during the event. “Perhaps most importantly, it gives Secretary Kennedy and President Trump the leverage to force the food companies to the table to change and alter the ingredients that are all making us sick.”
Number of the Day
$283 million – Amount of new costs Louisiana could be required to pay under the Trump tax and spending bill, which mandates states shoulder 5 to 15 percent of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits starting in fiscal year 2028. (Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)