The Trump administration wants states to pick up a higher share of disaster recovery costs. This would have huge implications for hurricane-prone Louisiana. The Louisiana Illuminator’s Julie O’Donoghue reports that state congressional candidates are somewhat divided on the issue:

“I don’t think we need to look at increasing the requirements of local government shares of response dollars. I think the levels that they’ve got it at are adequate,” said state Sen. Stewart Cathey, R-Monroe, a 5th District candidate. Several rural communities in Northeast Louisiana, part of the 5th District, struggled to come up with money to respond to a winter storm earlier this year, Cathey said.

Some candidates favor shifting more power over natural disaster response to states, but others think the move would be misguided:

Even a state like Louisiana still relies on the expertise of FEMA staff to help communities after a natural disaster, [Pat] Forbes said. …  “There are tons of states and communities around the country who are not as experienced as we are,” Forbes said. “It’s going to be worse when they don’t have the expertise on the ground.”

Don’t strip childcare assistance from low-income families

The Trump administration is considering a plan to strip childcare assistance from low-income working parents and give it to married couples with stay-at-home spouses. As Chandra Childers of the Economic Policy Institute explains, fully funding the Child Care and Development Fund is a better solution:

[CCDF] serves just 16% of all eligible children and just 17% of eligible children, age 5 and younger. That leaves hundreds of thousands of eligible children sitting on waitlists. … We must invest in families, regardless of their composition—married couples, single mothers, or grandparents caring for their grandchildren. We should fully fund the CCDF to ensure all eligible families are supported.  

Is Acadiana ready to fill SpaceX jobs?

SpaceX has promised that its Vermillion Parish spaceport will create 10,000 jobs, but education and economic development organizations in the Acadiana region have not heard from the company about the new listings. Those conversations are instead being led by Louisiana Economic Development. The Current’s Anna Oakes explains how the region is trying to ensure it’s ready to fill the new jobs:

“We haven’t gotten really that specific information, either,” says Maggi Bienvenu, director of business education connections at OneAcadiana, the economic development organization for Acadiana that recently launched its own “SpaceX in Acadiana” website. One priority for OneAcadiana, Bienvenu says, is to encourage young local students to consider training for new manufacturing jobs. Part of that is addressing the stigma that manufacturing jobs typically carry.  

New SNAP benefits start Oct. 1

Participants of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will receive slightly higher benefits beginning Oct. 1 due to an annual cost-of-living adjustment. Nextstar’s Alix Martichoux reports:

The maximum SNAP monthly allotment is changing to keep up with the rising cost of food. The maximum amount a household receives depends on the state they live in. For a family of four living in the 48 contiguous U.S. states or Washington, D.C., the new benefit limit is $1,023.

More than 170,000 Louisianans, including 82,000 children, are receiving no SNAP benefits because they have been kicked out of the program. An analysis by Invest in Louisiana’s Tia Fields shows that roughly 3 in 4 people were removed for procedural reasons, not because they were ineligible.  


Number of the Day

54% – Share of American adults who read below a sixth-grade level, a record high. (Source: Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy)