A new state commission aimed at probing for efficiency and savings in government –  and the possible elimination of services – appears to have violated Louisiana public meeting law. The “Fiscal Responsibility Program,” which Gov. Jeff Landry created via executive order in December, has met twice in the past week without alerting the public or giving citizens a chance to participate. The Times Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Tyler Bridges reports: 

[Public Affairs Research Council President Steven] Procopio and Terry Ryder, who served as a senior attorney to three governors — Buddy Roemer, Mike Foster and Kathleen Blanco — say the entity is a public body, which makes it subject to the public records law. As a result, the Fiscal Responsibility Program has to advertise when and where it will meet. It also has to allow the public a chance to speak at the meeting, and it has to take minutes that will become publicly available, they said.

Expand the Child Tax Credit

Seventeen million children will receive a reduced federal Child Tax Credit, or no credit at all, in 2025 because their families’ incomes are too low. This includes 378,000 Louisiana children. Kris Cox and Stephanie Hingtgen of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities explain why expanding the Child Tax Credit should be part of any tax and budget deals that Congress approves: 

As policymakers consider which tax policies — and, by extension, which constituencies — to prioritize in the upcoming tax debate, they should look to the words of their colleague, Senator Josh Hawley. He noted, even as the details of his own Child Tax Credit proposal fall short of his rhetoric, that “for every Republican who went out and campaigned on strengthening families, on delivering for working people… this is the time to deliver.” This should mean delivering a meaningful income boost to children in families who are struggling economically, even if any extension of the 2017 tax law would, as a whole, be costly and skewed to the wealthy.

How would federal spending cuts impact kids?

Congressional Republicans and conservative groups, at the direction of the Trump administration, are examining ways to drastically reduce federal spending. While costly tax cuts for the rich and large corporations appear to be off limits, cuts to programs that provide crucial support for children are firmly on the table. The Urban Institute’s Heather Hahn and Hannah Sumiko Daly explain how programs that provide health care, food assistance and income security are on the chopping block:

The Republican Study Committee (PDF) budget proposal calls for a $4.5 trillion reduction in health care spending over 10 years, including cuts to Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) that would reduce the programs by more than half. It also proposes cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that would reduce average nutrition benefits for the more than 40 million people participating in the program. Project 2025 (PDF) proposes to eliminate Head Start, which provides early education services to more than 800,000 children. The House Budget Committee’s budget resolution proposes to substantially reduce spending on income security programs including SNAP, the earned income tax credit (EITC), the child tax credit (CTC), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

Hahn and Sumiko Daly explain why reducing investments in children are extremely short sighted: 

Children’s health and education programs, programs that reduce childhood poverty, and programs directed at supporting very young children have especially high payoffs in the long term. For each dollar invested in health, the government receives a $1.78 return. Urban Institute research shows the expanded CTC, available during the COVID-19 pandemic, could help more children from families with low incomes graduate from high school and college and earn more in adulthood. 

States leave millions in drug rebates on the table

States failed to collect nearly $400 million in drug discounts from 2008 through 2020, according to a recent report by the inspector general’s office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. While state Medicaid programs are allowed to collect rebates from pharmaceutical companies, the onerous and complicated process makes it difficult to actually obtain these dollars. Shalina Chatlani of States Newsroom reports: 

(Health policy analyst Deborah) Williams said states’ struggles to claim the rebates are emblematic of a broader problem: When programs designed to generate savings are too complicated, they ultimately benefit drug manufacturers and insurance companies — not taxpayers or patients. “The feds are not going to allocate more administrative dollars to make it work,” Williams said. “If after 30 years, [the states] haven’t managed to achieve operational excellence, they are not going to change it overnight. So, it’s a structural, systematic and a political problem.”

Footnote: President Trump recently fired the inspector general who produced this report. 


Number of the Day

50% – Percentage of Louisiana state spending that came from federal funds in 2024, the highest in the nation. (Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)