Louisiana could lose about $4 billion a year in federal support for its Medicaid program under the budget reconciliation bill being negotiated on Capitol Hill. That could force the Legislature into a special session later this year to rework the state budget that passed last week. The warning came from state Senate President Cameron Henry, who said in a Public Affairs Research Council webinar that he’s been in touch with state congressional leaders. The Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Mark Ballard reports:
Henry said he phoned U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge and a member of the Senate Finance Committee, Monday night after the panel released its recommendations for Medicaid and other provisions in the massive bill that includes much of President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda. They discussed the problems Louisiana could have covering the costs and discussed strategies about “how to move forward with the changes they want to make without devastating local hospitals, rural hospitals and so forth,” Henry said. The Senate’s language has “a bunch of things in it that would have significant effects on Louisiana, not in a positive way,” Henry said.
Pell Grants are an economic lifeline
More than 100,000 Louisiana students rely on the federal Pell Grant program to help pay for college. But the need-based program for students with low-to-moderate family incomes is threatened by major cuts under the House version of the budget reconciliation bill that is currently being reworked by the Senate. Cuts proposed by the House would hit an estimated 79,000 Louisiana students, including 25,000 students who would lose their grants entirely. Amanda Kruger Hill and Mia Gonzales Washington of the Cowen Institute elaborate in a guest column for The Times-Picayune:
The economic data about New Orleans is clear — the city’s economy is overly reliant on the tourism and hospitality industries, which typically have lower wages and salaries than other industries. A college education is a ladder for New Orleans youth, as well as students statewide, to attain the skills necessary to achieve higher-paying, family-sustaining employment. These are the very type of jobs that Louisiana needs more of and that bolster the economy of the entire state. We will not be able to continue to attract new innovative employers without an educated workforce. The Pell Grant makes that possible for tens of thousands of Louisiana students every year.
The Senate’s blueprint for the budget bill, written by Louisiana’s Bill Cassidy, maintains funding for Pell and keeps the program accessible for Louisiana students.
ICE comes for the horse groomers
President Donald Trump’s goal of deporting 3,000 immigrants per day is causing consternation among some of his business allies as the reality dawns that it will require the removal of vast numbers of law-abiding people whose only crime was crossing the border in search of work. The president recently ordered a pause on enforcement actions at farms, hotels and restaurants – only to walk that back a few days later. The Wall Street Journal reports that the effects are being felt most in industries that are heavily reliant on immigrant workers:
Immigrants living in the U.S. illegally account for about 4.4% of the U.S. workforce, according to a Goldman Sachs analysis of 2023 census data. But their share of the workforce in some industries is much higher, the analysis found: 19% in landscaping services, 17% in crop production, 16% in animal slaughtering and processing and 13% in construction. … Immigration boosted economic growth in recent years and helped cool a job market that was in danger of overheating by “rebalancing the tightest parts of the labor market, where wage and price pressures were most extreme,” Goldman Sachs economists wrote in a note last year.
While Trump has said he wants immigration raids to focus on urban areas, federal ICE agents this week raided the Delta Downs Racetrack in rural Vinton, arresting 84 people suspected of entering the U.S. illegally. The Advocate’s Courtney Pederson reports that only two of the detainees were found to have had prior arrests or criminal convictions.
Premium Tax Credits at risk
An estimated 22 million American workers, including 4 million small business owners, are able to afford health insurance thanks to enhanced Premium Tax Credits. But those tax credits are being reduced as part of the federal budget reconciliation bill, which means insurance premiums will skyrocket and many families will be forced to drop their coverage altogether. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has more:
An estimated 4.2 million people will become uninsured by 2034 as costs rise to unaffordable levels. The bill also takes PTCs and Medicare away entirely from many immigrants who live and work in the U.S. lawfully. (People without a documented status are already ineligible.) Those who would be affected include people with immigration statuses designed to help people in humanitarian need, like those granted refugee or asylee status and certain victims of sex and labor trafficking or domestic violence.
Number of the Day
107,428 – Louisianans who used federal Pell Grants last year to make higher education more affordable. (Source: Cowen Institute via The Times-Picayune)