La. House Won’t Override Edwards’ Budget Cut Vetoes

Republican lawmakers in the Louisiana  House have scrapped talk of overriding Gov. John Bel Edwards' line-item vetoes that lessened some budget cuts.

Rather than seek to overrule Edwards, the House instead voted 98-1 Wednesday to sustain the vetoes at the request of Appropriations Chairman Cameron Henry, a Republican.

House Speaker Taylor Barras had said any effort at an override would have been unlikely to draw the two-thirds support needed to reverse the governor's decisions. Also, Republican Senate President John Alario had said he wasn't interested in a Senate debate on veto overrides.

Through his line-item veto, Edwards lessened budget cuts passed by lawmakers in a recently-ended special session by more than $4 million, suggesting the reductions pushed by House Republicans were too deep.

Lawmakers rarely override a governor's veto in Louisiana. Only two gubernatorial vetoes have been overridden in modern times in Louisiana. The last governor to have a veto overruled was Edwin Edwards in 1993.

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