| Good Morning, How to fight the COVID pandemic – for some whether there even is one – still dominates Louisiana politics even as the state struggles to recover from Hurricane Ida. In the past few days, the application period for emergency food stamps was extended because so many people tried to sign up that the phone systems failed; then the state worked around federal rules, with FEMA’s okay, to buy travel trailers and RVs for people whose homes were destroyed to move into within a week, rather than waiting until the end of November. At the State Capitol, a handful of Republican legislators claim that because the vaccines approved under emergency-use authorization weren’t fully vetted, legislation was needed to ban certain COVID vaccine requirements. The letter sparked much pushback from scientists, who called their conclusions “nonsense” and dismissals from the press secretaries of the elected officials whose policies are being criticized. Similarly, State Epidemiologist Theresa Sokol pushed back on Education Superintendent Cade Brumley’s decision to allow school districts to independently decide whether children exposed to COVID should stay home from school. Meanwhile, the battle over President Joe Biden’s agenda reached deep into Louisiana’s recovery. Partisanship stalled two cornerstone pieces: a bipartisan $1.5 trillion upgrade in roads and bridges as well as a hardening of the electrical grid, and a social agenda bill that would spend $3.5 trillion over a decade to improve schools, allow for day care, and free community college, as well as wide swath of investments in other social programs. First, U.S. Senate Republicans refused legislation that would continue to fund federal government, which also included $28.6 billion in storm restoration, because of a provision to raise the nation’s borrowing limit to accommodate the $3.5 trillion package that the GOP abhors. Democrats stripped the debt limit provision so the bill could pass – keeping the government from shutting down and, after more than year of infighting, freeing up some money for disaster relief. Then action shifted towards the U.S. House. Republican leadership, who don’t want to give Biden a win, joined forces with the Democratic left wing, who don’t want moderates to drop out of the fight for the $3.5 trillion social package once the $1.5 trillion infrastructure funding passes. Intense negotiations continued through the annual baseball game between congressional Democrats and Republicans ever that was supposed to honor former Louisiana congressman Cedric Richmond’s entry into the Congressional Baseball Hall of Fame. In the end House Speaker Nancy Pelosi postponed the vote on both bills. As always, check throughout the day for the latest Louisiana political news at theadvocate.com/politics or NOLA.com/politics and on Twitter at @MarkBallardCNB, @tegbridges, @samkarlin, @blakepater, @WillSentell. Here are a dozen articles, commentaries and editorials that will catch you up for the week to come. One last item: Thank you to our subscribers. Your support means a great deal to us. If you're not yet a subscriber, we’ve got a special offer you can check out here. – Mark Ballard | 
