BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana senators took their turn Friday at balancing next year's budget with cuts so deep that even those in favor said their plan is unworkable.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Eric LaFleur said the budget proposal now going to the full Senate for debate "would probably effectively close most of state government."
Even as he supported it, Sen. Mack "Bodi" White, a Baton Rouge area Republican, said: "I hate this budget."
The spending plan for the financial year that begins July 1 would shield nursing home residents from evictions, keep the state's safety-net hospitals from closure and reverse many House-backed cuts to health services for the poor, elderly and disabled.
But to make the numbers work, senators had to cut elsewhere. To keep the plan in balance, senators propose steeply slashing funding to colleges and heavy reductions across agencies, eliminating the state's food stamp program, jeopardizing public safety programs and shuttering parks.
Awards through the TOPS program would cover only 70 percent of college tuitions.
"If we have to make a choice, we choose life first," said Republican Senate President John Alario.
Louisiana is expected to take in $648 million less in general state tax dollars next year as temporary taxes expire.
LaFleur, a Ville Platte Democrat, called the document released Friday a "pretend budget" that demonstrates the need for passing replacement taxes in the special session Gov. John Bel Edwards is expected to call later this month.
Other senators, both Republican and Democrat, also said the cuts aren't realistic, but said they have a constitutional obligation to pass a spending plan during the regular session.
"We don't have any intent that this is the final iteration of this budget," said Sen. Conrad Appel, a Metairie Republican.
The committee passed a corresponding document, outlining taxes they suggested should be considered during a special session.
After the committee action, Edwards spokesman Richard Carbo suggested the Democratic governor would veto the budget bill if it reaches his desk.
"The budget proposals before us have no chance of becoming law," Carbo said in a text.
Senators bristled when Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne, the governor's chief financial adviser, urged senators to consider stalling the budget. Dardenne said work on a budget few consider realistic slows down the push to end the regular session and move on to the special session.
"You have not passed a responsible budget," Dardenne said. "Why continue to perpetuate a debate about a budget that is unfixable?"
"Don't think for one second we didn't know what we were doing," LaFleur responded. "It demonstrates the problem."
Alario said one of the Legislature's "big responsibilities is to provide a budget, whether we like it or not." In a likely signal to the governor, he urged Dardenne to "put all of the rhetoric aside."
Lawmakers complained about the Edwards administration's decision to send letters this week to 37,000 people who are elderly and disabled — about half of them in nursing homes — warning they could lose the financing that pays for their care in July.
Republicans called that a premature scare tactic that creates unnecessary anxiety for Louisiana's most vulnerable residents.
-by AP reporter Melinda Deslatte
