Louisiana Democratic Party Agenda To Focus On Minimum Wage, Medicaid Expansion
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — The Louisiana Democratic Party will push state lawmakers to broaden last year's equal pay legislation, to raise the state's minimum wage and to expand the Medicaid program as allowed under the federal health law.
State Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, the chair of the state Democratic Party, outlined the party's goals Monday for the upcoming regular session that begins March 10.
Peterson framed them as ideas that would help working Louisianians.
Those proposals face strong GOP opposition, and the House and Senate both are majority Republican. Similar measures have been rejected in previous years.
Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican, opposes efforts to change Louisiana's minimum wage from the federal wage set at $7.25 per hour. Jindal also objects to adding thousands more people to the Medicaid rolls for free health insurance.
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