The House Democratic Caucus blasted legislative Republicans Tuesday just outside the Capitol, saying the GOP is fixated on attacking the Governor’s public health authority and ignoring other major issues.
New Orleans Representative Mandie Landry hit Republicans over rejecting efforts to support struggling renters, or to shield their rental records should they be evicted during the pandemic.
“We will not give any money to people who need housing assistance and we will not even do this minor thing that will them the next time they have to find a home? I think this is a question not just of politics but of principles,” said Landry
Another New Orleans Representative, Royce Duplessis, expressed his frustration over Republicans rejecting his bill to increase the maximum state unemployment benefit from $247 to $347 a week.
New Orleans Representative Aimee Freeman said her Republican colleagues have misplaced priorities right now.
“It is really upsetting to me as a representative here as part of this caucus that we are worrying about emergency power orders and we have hungry kids in our state,” said Freeman.
Freeman has a bill that will be heard Wednesday in committee that would create a process to automatically distribute Pandemic EBT cards to families of students who receive reduced or free lunch at school.
House Democratic Caucus Chair Sam Jenkins says any efforts to undermine the Governor’s authority will be rejected, but Democrats may agree to a Senate bill increasing legislative oversight of his public health decisions.
“Many of us are looking at it on both sides of the aisle hoping that some compromise can be done. As you probably know it is in conference committee at this time, hopefully, something can come out of that process that we can come together on,” said Jenkins.
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