On Monday, Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards spoke in general terms about his plans for the upcoming fiscal cliff which is anticipated to be around $1 billion for the year beginning July 1, 2018. At a luncheon today Edwards delivered remarks at an event hosted by Committee of 100, Council for a Better Louisiana (CABL), Public Affairs Research Council (PAR) and the Louisiana Budget Project.
by Tom Aswell, Publisher of Louisiana Voice
Though the conversation depicted in this cartoon likely didn’t go down exactly this way, it is, nonetheless, typical of the mindset of not only Republicans, but Democrats as well. The merits of a given piece of legislation are immaterial; if it’s being proposed by the opposition party, we’re against it.
Today, Lousiana House GOP members of the Joint Budget Committee stopped the State’s Medicaid contracts with a vote of 17 against, 7 for.
Shortly after, Gov. John Bel Edwards issued the following statement on today’s Joint Budget Committee vote:
Edwards calls GOP ‘obstructionists’
Gov. John Bel Edwards did not mince words over the actions of some GOP House members who are members of the Joint Budget Committee.
The Committee last week blocked lucrative contract extensions sought by Edwards for the managed-care companies that coordinate services for 1.5 million Medicaid patients in Louisiana.
In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a Louisiana Treasurer’s election coming up to replace John Kennedy, now the US Senator.
Yawn.
Louisiana is in the middle of a "hot" election season. On the local level, there are number of seats available, particularly in New Orleans and Jefferson Parishes. Statewide, there is only one major election, that for Louisiana Treasurer due to a vacancy.
Year after year, Louisiana sits at the top of the list for the most expensive state in the nation for auto insurance. Insure.com just released a new study showing the Bayou State in a neck and neck race with Michigan to maintain it’s honor for average costs that tops $2000 a year.