Louisiana improperly paid out more than $405 million in unemployment between January 2020 and September 2020. Even with this level of incompetence, John Bel Edwards and Page Cortez find replenishing this trust fund a top priority. Garret Graves and other officials are hoping to tackle infrastructure.
Improper Payments In The Unemployment Insurance Program
Louisiana will receive $3.2 billion in federal aid. Commissioner of Administration, Jay Dardenne says fewer strings are attached than with previous stimulus funds. This leaves room for plenty of grand ideas on how to squander the funds.
LaToya’s Terrible Decisions Get $375 Million Taxpayer Bailout and They Want More!
New Orleans will receive $375 million in federal aid. Still, some want to send more funding to help the New Orleans tourism industry. Latoya’s excessive mandates continue to cripple the industry. While the people certainly need help, using one-time money to bridge ongoing expenses is proposition.
“Effective April 2, all indoor public and private gatherings shall be limited to 150 individuals and outdoor public and private gatherings shall be limited to 250 individuals. Also, Outdoor Recreation Spaces and Sports Complexes will be allowed to open at up to 50% of standing capacity. Indoor Recreation Spaces and Sports Complexes will be allowed to open at up to 25% of standing capacity. Any events taking place in recreation spaces or sports complexes that are not athletic competitions, must obtain a special event permit.”
Long Term Investments
Congressman Garret Graves has requested that $1 billion of Louisiana’s federal aid go to infrastructure such as roads and bridges. Senator Bodi White agrees. He says the state could benefit from these projects for 20-30 years. With $3.2 billion in one-time money, the best thing Louisiana can do is invest in infrastructure while getting out of the way of our economy so we can get back to work.
A New Bridge
One of Congressman Garret Grave’s ideas was a new Mississippi River bridge. Approximately 150,000 vehicles cross the Mississippi River Bridge daily. Investing in infrastructure would help relieve this daily gridlock without raising gas taxes. In an interview with Kiran Chawla, Founding Partner of Bernhard Capital Jim Bernhard said a new bridge will cost about $1 billion.
Rendering of new bridge in Lake Charles
JBE and Page Cortez Would Rather Pay People To Stay Home
A few officials are leaning toward long term investments but John Bel Edwards has other plans. His priority is to replenish the unemployment trust fund. Cortez stated “We have talked in terms of $400 million for unemployment trust fund, to get it out of the negative”. The unemployment trust fund has hit zero twice. Perhaps this would not be the case if 97,585 were not receiving funds fraudulently. Federal aid, business taxes, and borrowing federal money are financing weekly benefits.
With this one-time investment we must decide what makes the most sense. Getting Louisiana’s infrastructure into a position to facilitate growth makes more sense than paying people extra to not work.
