On the hill: Kyle Zeringue, the Baton Rouge Area Chamber’s senior vice president of business development, testified today before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works in support of legislation to extend implementation of critical ozone air quality standards during a reasonable timeframe. BRAC asys Zeringue spoke in Washington, D.C. on behalf of the chamber and its stakeholders. He also outlined the progress made in the Baton Rouge area toward meeting ozone attainment standards, and the impact of the unimplemented 2015 standards. Read Zeringue’s full statement.
One among many: Sen. John Kennedy and Rep. Garret Graves, both Republicans, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma will accompany Vice President Mike Pence on his visit to Baton Rouge on Wednesday. Pence is scheduled to arrive shortly before noon. He is expected to meet with Baton Rouge small businesses and job creators to hear first-hand stories about health care, job creation, and the economy. The vice president will conclude his visit to Louisiana with formal remarks at Cajun Industries, 2307 South Westport Drive in Port Allen. The visit is Pence’s third trip to Baton Rouge in less than a year.
Taking a hit: Louisiana is among a number of ‘red states’ that overwhelming supported President Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election and would be hard hit by hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to federal programs the president is proposing. A new CNBC analysis found that the cuts largely impact programs that heavily benefit voters in the red states. Louisiana stands to lose big from the proposed $610 billion cut to Medicaid. The state also would among a handful that would be significantly impacted by a $5.8 billion cut to the Children’s Health Insurance Program. That program, too, would be cut over a 10-year period. Other heavily impacted states are Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Utah and Kentucky. Read more.
