The White House has released a state-by-state impact of the effects of sequestration — the automatic, across-the-board budget cuts set to take effect after Friday if the executive and legislative branches of the federal government are unable to reach a budget deal. In Louisiana, the impact of the cuts would be felt everywhere from funding for Head Start and education to environmental protection and military readiness.
The Washington Post was kind enough to break down the numbers for each state. Here’s its take for the Pelican State:
* Louisiana will lose approximately $15.8 million in funding for primary and secondary education, putting around 220 teacher and aide jobs at risk. In addition about 26,000 fewer students would be served and approximately 50 fewer schools would receive funding. In addition, Louisiana will lose approximately $9.8 million in funds for about 120 teachers, aides, and staff who help children with disabilities.
* Around 540 fewer low income students in Louisiana would receive aid to help them finance the costs of college and around 110 fewer students will get work-study jobs that help them pay for college.
* Head Start and Early Head Start services would be eliminated for approximately 1,400 children in Louisiana, reducing access to critical early education.
* Louisiana would lose about $2.5 million in environmental funding to ensure clean water and air quality, as well as prevent pollution from pesticides and hazardous waste. In addition, Louisiana could lose another $884,000 in grants for fish and wildlife protection.
* In Louisiana, approximately 7,000 civilian Department of Defense employees would be furloughed, reducing gross pay by around $35.9 million in total. Army: Base operation funding would be cut by about $58 million in Louisiana. Air Force: Funding for Air Force operations in Louisiana would be cut by about $8 million. Navy: A planned demolition project at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base New Orleans and a scheduled Blue Angels show at Barksdale Air Force Base could be canceled.
* Louisiana will lose about $264,000 in Justice Assistance Grants that support law enforcement, prosecution and courts, crime prevention and education, corrections and community corrections, drug treatment and enforcement, and crime victim and witness initiatives.
* Louisiana will lose about $509,000 in funding for job search assistance, referral, and placement, meaning around 17,150 fewer people will get the help and skills they need to find employment.
* Up to 600 disadvantaged and vulnerable children could lose access to child care, which is also essential for working parents to hold down a job.
Vaccines for children
* In Louisiana around 1,730 fewer children will receive vaccines for diseases such as measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, whooping cough, influenza, and Hepatitis B due to reduced funding for vaccinations of about $118,000.
* Louisiana will lose approximately $433,000 in funds to help upgrade its ability to respond to public health threats including infectious diseases, natural disasters, and biological, chemical, nuclear, and radiological events. In addition, Louisiana will lose about $1.3 million in grants to help prevent and treat substance abuse, resulting in around 1,300 fewer admissions to substance abuse programs. And the Louisiana State Department of Health & Hospitals will lose about $320,000 resulting in around 8,000 fewer HIV tests.
* Louisiana could lose up to $97,000 in funds that provide services to victims of domestic violence, resulting in up to 400 fewer victims being served.
* Louisiana would lose approximately $488,000 in funds that provide meals for seniors.
JUNE 19 Former Saint Steve Gleason, who is paralyzed by ALS, released a statement Tuesday in response to the Atlanta radio station's skit making fun of him and the disease, this Picayune post reports. What did he say? He said he'd accepted the apology of the DJs who did it, notes that at least the incident has got people talking about ALS, and asks anyone who is burning to take action about it to do so -- by helping him fight ALS.
JUNE 19 Blogger Ian McGibboney takes a look at the Gleason incident in this post. He makes a good argument about the difference between having free speech and being free from consequences for your speech (which none of us is). He also admits that many of us got upset before we listened to the skit -- but lets us know that the reality is far worse than we can imagine. It was the incredibly bad judgment, even more than the actual speech, that probably got those DJs fired, he opines.
JUNE 19 Washington Post blogger Aaron Blake writes about Sen. Guillory's switch to the GOP in this post. He writes what most political watchers in Louisiana know: Guillory was a Republican before he decided to run for the senate seat in a mostly-D St. Landry district, and has switched back now that he plans to run for Lt. Gov. in a mostly-R state. But how come Blake missed Guillory's appearance on a TLC pageant show? Now that is a video we'd like to see. (Again).
JUNE 19 Here's another Washington Post blog post about a Louisiana politician, and it's just plain scathing. Ezra Klein says Jindal's Politico post was "insulting" to the intelligence of voters, and adds that Jindal is personifying the "stupid" he's railed against, by being an "elite" who convinces GOP activists of "things that aren't true." Me-ow.
JUNE 19 Here's Gov. Jindal's post in Politico, in which he asks the GOP to get over losing to Obama (again) and stop "the bedwetting." (Uh, what?) He gives his Republican buddies what is probably a nerd's idea of a coach's motivational talk, which starts with a list of accomplishments that they can't seem to exploit and ending with an absurd description of liberals that sounds like a character treatment for a Fox "News" movie scripted by Gordon Liddy. Sure, he's preaching to the choir, but even the choir's not this gullible.
JUNE 19 Lamar Parmentel read Gov. Jindal's post on Politico, but thinks it was so dumb it probably was published in the wrong paper. This post by Lamar on the Daily Kingfish opines that possibly Jindal's post was destined for the Onion -- because the governor couldn't possibly be serious here. If you listen closely, you can hear the staff of the Kingfish giggling.
JUNE 19 Blogger Robert Mann posts from Turkey, a country he has visited several times in the past few years. Mann gives an interesting overview of the current political and societal climate of the country, which -- if you're living under a rock and don't know -- is experiencing protests and turmoil these days. Mann promises to post as much as he can during his trip, which should be fascinating reading.
JUNE 19 Blogger CB Forgotston says the legislature is keeping the vicious cycle going with its funding of new buildings for the community college/technical college system. Universities across the state need maintenance and improvement on existing buildings, and the solution is to build new buildings at other schools? By the time the bonds are paid off, those buildings will be falling down, too, CB says.
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What say you Jr. Taliban/Jindalista's?