LOUISIANA

 

The President’s budget makes drastic cuts in funding for programs that matter to families in Louisiana.  These cuts will shift responsibility for funding these priorities onto the already cash-strapped state.  Since Louisiana will not be able to provide the same level of services with less federal funding, the budget cuts will force the state either to reduce funding for schools and leave more people hungry, homeless, cold and uninsured, or to raise state taxes. 

 

 

EDUCATION:  The President’s budget would reduce funding for education and training programs in Louisiana in 2006, with the cuts getting bigger in later years.  No program, including K-12, will be spared. 

 

• Louisiana will lose almost $204 million in total elementary and secondary education spending[1];
• Funding for special education programs will be cut by more than $125 million in Louisiana;
• Louisiana school improvement programs will lose almost $90 million; and
• Vocational and adult education programs will be cut by nearly $106 million in Louisiana.

 

 

FAMILY SERVICES:  Programs providing needed services to low-income families in Louisiana face major cuts in 2006, with the cuts getting bigger over time.  Under the President’s budget proposal, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), programs for abused and neglected children, Head Start, and child care assistance programs all face steep cuts.

 

• Louisiana will lose more than $12 million in WIC funding, and nearly 12,000 people will be cut from the program;
• In Louisiana, Children and Family services (including Head Start and programs for abused and neglected children) would lose almost $73 million; 
• Almost 620 children in Louisiana will lose access to Head Start in 2006[2], and 2,900 will lose access to the program in 2010; and
• In Louisiana, 7,500 children will lose child care assistance in 2009.

 

 

HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT:  The President’s budget targets housing and community development programs in Louisiana for funding cuts in 2006 and beyond. 

 

• 6,800 families in Louisiana will lose rental assistance vouchers;
• The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) will be cut by $1.5 million in Louisiana; and
• In Louisiana, Community Development programs will be cut by $162 million. 

 

 

HEALTH:  The budget would cut funding in Louisiana for HIV/AIDS treatment services, including funding to help those with HIV/AIDS purchase drugs.  President Bush has also proposed major cuts to the Medicaid program in Louisiana. 

 

• Louisiana will lose $9.5 million in HIV/AIDS funding;
• Medicaid funding for Louisiana will be cut by nearly $847 million[3]; and 

• 51,400 children or 9,000 seniors in Louisiana could be covered by the Medicaid funding cuts proposed in 2010. 

 

 

PENTAGON:  While taxpayers in Louisiana would lose local services, they will pay increasingly more for the Pentagon.

 

• Louisiana will spend more than $176 million for the proposed increase in military spending[4]; and
• $1.3 billion of what Congress has so far allocated for the Iraq War will come from Louisiana.