As much as the governor, House Speaker Jim Tucker has been the outspoken bearer of bad news about the state’s worsening three-year revenue forecast. He describes it beginning with a big drop-off and heading toward “the cliff” of fiscal year 2011-12, election year, when federal stimulus money runs out and increased Medicaid costs fully kick in. Tucker’s diplomacy will be tested in the coming session, which he enters as a budget hawk who favors taking deep cuts now instead of deeper ones later. He will find himself at odds with most Democrats and some fellow Republicans who want to use more available one-time money to buffer healthcare and higher education. Tucker wants to hold onto that money or to use it for one-time purposes instead of plugging budget holes in the near term. Though Tucker might be able to hold the budget line in the House, somewhat, the Senate is not expected to be as fiscally pure.
—Perhaps the most important issue facing Louisiana in Congress is the president’s energy bill, on which House Energy Committee hearings opened this week. The bill by Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., includes a controversial “cap and trade” provision that would drive up costs for the state’s energy-intensive oil and gas and chemical industries. Congressman Charlie Melancon, a committee member, recently met with state industry leaders who asked him to help mobilize Blue Dog Democrats to fashion a less costly compromise. With Republicans lined up against the bill, Melancon finds himself in a challenging position of possibly having to oppose the legislation if fellow Democrats don’t agree to moderate it.
—Congressman Bill Cassidy of Baton Rouge not only led the House delegation in fundraising in the first quarter of the new cycle, but he has also amassed the largest campaign war chest of the freshman GOP class. His campaign finance report shows he took in $278,000, tying for the lead with Congressman Aaron Schock of Illinois. But Cassidy has by far the most cash on hand at $292,000.
(John Maginnis publishes LaPolitics Weekly, a newsletter on Louisiana politics, at LaPolitics.com.)
