What about Louisiana's Children?

I see our governor, Bobby Jindal, has found a new issue to advocate in hopes of improving his chances of getting recognition for his quest to become president, namely, the immigration border mess.  He discovered that 1,071 unaccompanied immigrant children have been placed with sponsors in our state.  He is demanding from the Obama administration a full status report on these individuals, and wants federal dollars to help care for them.

I believe this is a fair request, and admire his compassionate concern for the well-being of these 1,000 or so kids.  However, from Bobby’s previous actions, I doubt that compassionate concern is the real motivation for Jindal’s latest outburst.  At first, Jindal, born of immigrant parents, was silent about the issue, but now he has decided that the immigration debacle is bigger than the Common Core Standards, so he has jumped ship in hopes of more media attention.

However, I would like to further pursue Jindal’s latest  display of compassionate action and request FULL well-being status info from his administration:

I would like a status report on the well-being of the estimated 277,000 Louisiana citizens, which includes children, that are now without health insurance coverage because of Bobby’s refusal to accept Medicaid expansion funds under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  Gee, offered federal dollars and turns them down.

I would also like an accounting of all the Louisiana high school graduates who can’t afford to attend college due to tuition hikes caused by Jindal’s reduction in finding education in this state by over $700 million.

Please give me an accounting of the elderly in our state that could no longer remain living independently in their own homes due to the loss of assistance services provided by the Medicaid Trust Fund for the Elderly, which Jindal used for other purposes.

Also helpful would be a status report on the Louisiana children in need of mental health services formerly provided by the Early Childhood Support and Services Program which Jindal wiped out.

Need I continue?

While it’s true that the Obama administration needs to report on its long range plans for the well-being of the unaccompanied immigrants being dispersed throughout our state, Governor Jindal needs to provide a status report on his long range plans for the well-being of the Louisiana citizens that he has already impacted by his actions.

 

But I doubt that we will ever see that status report.