Senator Bill Cassidy (R) - Louisiana
State lawmakers are facing the prospect of having to implement deep cuts in the next budget unless the feds bail out Louisiana.
Senator Bill Cassidy is pushing to address some of Louisiana’s, and other’s state’s, COVID-related deficits by directing 500 billion dollars to state and local governments over the next two years.
“I do not think that we would fill it (the budget deficit) up entirely over 27 months but it would certainly help the state’s fiscal circumstances tremendously,” says Cassidy.
The SMART Act has been introduced in partnership with New Jersey Democratic Senator Bob Menendez.
Cassidy says Louisiana isn’t the only state facing dire budget conditions but without funding key government services he says the economy will never recover.
“Moody’s estimates there is going to be a 300 billion dollar shortfall nationwide in state budgets, and we think probably about 200 billion for city budgets over the next 27 months,” says Cassidy.
Cassidy says Louisiana is owed at least some federal budget assistance because it was federal policies and recommendations that tanked the state’s economy in particular.
“We rely upon royalties from oil and gas, that demand has been destroyed by the economic lockdowns, we rely upon sales tax, which has gone away because of the economic lockdown, and we rely upon tourism,” says Cassidy.
Louisiana legislators are facing the prospect of crafting a budget for the fiscal year starting July 1st with a billion-dollar shortfall compared to this fiscal year.
Comments