BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) -
A series of automatic cuts are set to begin Monday, unless Congress
does something. The White House released a series of cuts to each state
to focus on the severity of the issue. Locally, however, some
department heads are not too worried.
Robert Barham, who is the
Secretary of the Department of Health & Hospitals, says his office
does get some federal grants, but because the president scared so many
people about gun control, his revenue from gun sales will easily offset
the five percent sequester losses.
"So they are going to hold
back five percent. So, that means we're going to give up half a million
dollars. Yes it will impact us, but we'll have more money than last year
because of other actions he's done. There's a little irony there," says
Barham.
The sequester also means trouble for Operation Head
Start. Head start and early head start services would be eliminated for
approximately 1,400 children in Louisiana, reducing access to critical
early education.
According to a White House press release from
Friday, this spells out head start's fate. "We don't know if it's going
to be based on our total grant or what," says Paula Merrick-Roddy
Director of Human Development and Services. "What you have on your
remaining grant. We don't receive all of our money at one time; it comes
in throughout the year."
Law enforcement is also getting gutted
to the tune of $264,000. District Attorney Hillar Moore says it will not
impact the highly acclaimed BRAVE program.
None of these
doomsday possibilities will happen overnight. All of it can be un-done
by the Congress and Presidential cooperation.
Copyright 2013 WAFB. All rights reserved.
