(The Center Square) — Sen. Sam Jenkins, D-Shreveport, said President Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill” would affect 1.6 million Louisiana residents’ access to health care.
“Me and my lawmakers down in Baton Rouge have some very serious concerns about the potential cuts to Medicaid and SNAP,” Jenkins said during the Thursday Caddo Parish Commission meeting. “Significant federal cuts could lead to a multi-billion dollar loss for Louisiana.”
Jenkins made it clear he was not giving any political statement towards the bill but was specifically focused on numbers.
According to Jenkins, the massive budget reconciliation bill proposes cutting $1 trillion to Medicaid and $180 billion to SNAP nationwide.
Data released by USAFacts showed roughly 847,100, or 18.4%, of Louisiana residents received SNAP benefits monthly during fiscal year 2024, larger than the 12.3% receiving benefits nationwide. In 2012, nearly 948,800 people in Louisiana received monthly SNAP benefits. In 2024, Louisiana ranked third in the U.S. for the state population receiving SNAP benefits.
KFF data shows that as of May, 1.8 million people in Louisiana have Medicaid, and 79% of Medicaid spending is federally funded. Louisiana currently receives $13 billion in federal funds for Medicaid.
The state budget for the 2025-2026 year is $47.9 billion– $24.2 billion of the budget is state funds, and $23.7 billion is federal funds. Of the $23.7 billion federally funded dollars, $16.4 billion supports healthcare for Louisiana residents.
The Center Square previously reported positive and negative responses from lawmakers surrounding the passage of the president’s bill, which he is expected to sign into law on Friday. The bill is said to add $4.1 trillion to the primary deficit over the next 10 years, raise the debt ceiling by $5 trillion, add cost-saving reforms to Medicaid and SNAP and fund border construction.
“Thanks to the leadership of President Donald Trump, Speaker Mike Johnson, and Congressman Steve Scalise, Americans just received: largest tax cut in history, no tax on tips, overtime and social security, permanently secure our borders, permanent increase to the child tax credit, protects two million family farms from punitive double taxation, unless American Energy Dominance, modernizes the American military and ends fraud, waste and abuse in our federal government,” Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said on X.
Landry, U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, all Republicans, shared their support for the bill. Democratic Reps. Cleo Fields and Troy A. Carter released statements of concern.
Emilee Ruth Calametti currently serves as Staff Reporter for The Center Square covering the Northwestern Louisiana region. She holds her M.A. in English from Georgia State University and an additional M.A. in Journalism from New York University. Her articles have been featured in DIG Magazine, Houstonia Magazine, Bookstr, inRegister, EntertainmentNOW, AOL, MSN, and more. She is a Louisiana native with over seven years of journalism experience.
