BATON ROUGE — Watching conservative Republicans in the state House cut vital medical and other services for the less fortunate in their state has become strikingly similar to the actions of their GOP colleagues in Washington, D.C. Compassion, like compromise, appears to have become a rare commodity at both levels of government.
Medicaid, the federal-state health care program for poor and low-income Americans, is the favorite target of members of the Freedom Caucus in Congress. In Baton Rouge, it’s the Louisiana Department of Health.
President Donald Trump is desperate to repeal Obamacare, but he can’t get conservative Republicans on board to pass a replacement plan. And once he and House Speaker Paul Ryan cave in to Medicaid demands of the Freedom Caucus, they lose moderate members of the GOP.
The caucus wants to severely trim back Medicaid and turn it over to the states. Louisiana can’t take care of its residents’ health care needs, and it certainly doesn’t have any money to finance the Medicaid program. The 400,000-plus Louisianians who got health care when Medicaid was expanded could end up back in those expensive hospital emergency rooms again.
Where the Washington, D.C., health care story ends is anyone’s guess. The same thing could be said about the budget situation in Baton Rouge.
The House Appropriations Committee this week sent the state’s spending bill to the full House, which is scheduled to decide its fate today. The $28 billion plan fully funds the TOPS scholarship program and gets the $82 million it needs to do that from the $235 million it cut from the Department of Health.
Republicans jealously guard the TOPS program. They often say their constituents don’t want anyone to touch TOPS because it’s all they get back from the government for the taxes they pay. However, that argument conveniently ignores the fact that government also builds roads and bridges and provides education, health care, police and fire protection, and other vital services.
Although the GOP budget plan gives more money to people with disabilities, it cuts funding for other health care programs, K-12 education, prisons and the agency that protects children and families.
The 17 Republicans on the committee voted for the plan; the five Democrats were against. Partisanship has also shown its ugly face here.
Members of the Gov. John Bel Edwards administration said the GOP budget would deprive some Medicaid recipients of their medicines, eliminate psychiatric treatment beds, force early release of nonviolent inmates and close two veterans cemeteries.
The health department does have a $12 billion budget, but about $10 billion of that comes from the federal government. The federal money definitely comes with strings attached, so the Health Department’s hands are tied in many respects.
The $235 million reduction to LDH translates to $750 million because of the loss of federal matching dollars. A $19 million cut to the state Department of Children and Family Services balloons to $70 million for the same reason.
Rebekah Gee, secretary of LDH, said, “Because of the gruesomeness of these numbers … you have to cut real programs. There is no fluff that adds up to that number.”
Marketa Walters, secretary of DCFS, said the reduction in her department would eliminate 67 positions in the child welfare office, which handles child abuse and neglect cases. Her agency oversees 8,000 children in foster care each year and 900,000 food stamp recipients.
“These cuts are draconian and nonsensical,” Walters said. “The lack of compassion in this budget is appalling.”
Although the appropriations committee refused to determine where budget cuts should be made, it did lay down some prohibitions. It wants job vacancies eliminated first, doesn’t want any of the nine public hospitals to close, demands protection for some health care programs and insists that no state employee pay raises be given.
Rep. Gene Reynolds, D-Minden and chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said the Republican budget looks much like those formulated during the Bobby Jindal administration that helped create 15 midyear budget shortfalls in nine years.
“It’s like a firing squad,” Reynolds said. “They want to kill vital services to their own people, but blame someone else for firing the gun. It’s irresponsible, dishonest budgeting — a throwback to the Jindal era, only this is Jindal on steroids.”
Rep. Cameron Henry, R-Metairie and chairman of the Appropriations Committee, did make sure he took good care of his two favorite statewide public officials. Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser and state Attorney General Jeff Landry got extra money and were given authority to hire more employees.
Someone said Henry was consulting with his conservative colleagues this week to see what changes they would like to see in the budget. He can support those amendments today and oppose any others. Henry has the GOP House majority he needs to approve the budget he likes and send it to the Senate.
Just like events in Congress, no one knows exactly what happens once the budget leaves the House and gets to the upper chamber. The Senate usually rewrites it to the governor’s liking each year. However, considering the ugly partisanship that has gripped the Legislature, no one is making any predictions.
I have to end with an excellent comment from Lanny Keller, a columnist at The Advocate. He says this year’s budget is Robin Hood in reverse. In case you have forgotten, Robin Hood “stole from the rich and gave to the poor.”
Jim Beam, the retired editor of the American Press, has covered people and politics for more than five decades. Contact him at 337-515-8871 or jbeam@americanpress.com.
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