43°
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
7 Day Forecast
Follow our weather team on social media

Jindal plan to close $487M budget deficit wins approval

8 years 1 week 1 day ago Friday, November 20 2015 Nov 20, 2015 November 20, 2015 12:16 PM November 20, 2015 in News
Source: Associated Press
By: Melinda Deslatte

BATON ROUGE - Lawmakers have agreed to Gov. Bobby Jindal's plan to rebalance the state's budget and close a $487 million deficit.

Though members of the joint House and Senate budget committee raised concerns that the patchwork plan would leave a slew of financial problems for a new governor taking office in January, they overwhelmingly supported the proposal Friday.

House committee members voted 19-6 for the Jindal plan, while senators backed it 14-1.

Both candidates in Saturday's runoff for governor - Democrat John Bel Edwards and Republican David Vitter - urged rejection of the deficit closing plan. But neither spoke at the committee hearing Friday.

Public colleges will be spared cuts. Mainly short-term fixes will be used to close gaps temporarily. A huge internal shortfall in the state Medicaid program won't be addressed.

More News

Desktop News

Click to open Continuous News in a sidebar that updates in real-time.
Radar
7 Days