A Louisiana commission is withholding approval of New Orleans flood control funds over city officials’ opposition to the state’s abortion ban, according to the Washington Post.
The Louisiana State Bond Commission voted 7-6 on Thursday to temporarily halt a $39 million line of credit for a power station to run New Orleans drainage pumps that would protect the city’s roughly 384,000 residents from flooding.
Republican Attorney General Jeff Landry reportedly requested that the commission stall the funds because he is enraged by city officials’ response to Louisiana’s near-total abortion ban.
“The officials in New Orleans took an oath of office to support and enforce the laws of our State, yet they have decided that some laws are not worthy of enforcement,” Landry said in a Facebook statement, where he also blasted “the city’s open defiance of the will of the people of Louisiana.”
When the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Louisiana’s abortion trigger law, one of the strictest in the country with no exceptions for rape or incest, went into effect.
In July, the New Orleans city council passed a resolution asking police, sheriff’s deputies and prosecutors not to enforce the ban.
Landry, who also serves as a member of the bond commission, criticized the vote. He called it a rejection of state authority and said officials in New Orleans could either adhere to the statewide abortion ban or forget about funding for the plant.
“We should not defer the ability to use the tools at our disposal to bring them to heel, quite frankly,” Landry, a possible 2023 gubernatorial candidate said at Thursday’s meeting.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell criticized Landry’s actions but said she is not surprised.
“I am disappointed, but not surprised, by the manufactured crisis of the attorney general, who has once again delayed critical infrastructure funding in the middle of hurricane season,” she said in a statement. “I will continue to prioritize necessary improvements to our city’s aging infrastructure, while fighting for the reproductive rights of all women.”
Louisiana’s conservative Democratic governor John Bel Edwards, also blasted Landry for the move.
“The idea that you seek to punish all the people living in a certain area because you are at odds with some of their elected officials, that’s not a reasonable approach,” Edwards said.
Withholding funds for the plant is actually a step back from Landry’s position a month ago when he wrote a letter to commission members and state Treasurer John Schroder saying they should defer funding for all New Orleans projects until city officials reversed course on the abortion resolution, according to Politico.
But, officials rejected the idea and Landry decided to focus instead on just halting funding for the drainage pumps in the middle of hurricane season.
