Taking a cue from the reprehensible attempts in Congress to take away our health care in order to pay for billions in federal tax cuts for the wealthy, Louisiana state legislators have passed a budget which guts a staggering array of family-supporting programs -- including Medicaid, the country’s largest provider of long-term care. The cuts to Medicaid triggered eviction notices for 30,000 nursing home residents and layoff notices for 27,000 health care workers in state-funded institutions.

If that’s not ridiculous enough, the legislators themselves call this a “pretend budget” -- it’s not feasible, it’s not realistic, and it’s certainly not fair.

But, it doesn’t have to be this way. Starting on Tuesday, May 22, the legislature will meet in a special session to address the nearly $650 million “fiscal cliff” that the state is set to go over on July 1. After years of playing politics with the lives of Louisiana’s citizens, the state’s legislators have one last chance to craft a budget and taxation system that is fair to all of the people of Louisiana.

Join us in supporting the actions in the streets of Baton Rouge demanding that the Senate President John Alario and Speaker of the House Taylor Barras pass a budget that ensures everyone in the state can live and thrive, without cornering working families, people of color, the elderly and people with disabilities into carrying the load.