CAJUNS FOOTBALL Is offense ready to carry team on the road? 1C THE
ACADIANA
ADVOCATE
T H E A C A D I A N A A D V O C AT E.C O M
|
W e d n e s d ay, n ov e m b e r 19, 2025
“It’s a sweet spot: lower premiums, help with the deductible, making the patient the informed consumer.” U.S. SEN. BILL CASSIDy, R-Baton Rouge
Cassidy offers option for health insurance
$2.00X
Higgins only ‘no’ vote on Epstein files Release could hurt the innocent, congressman says BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer
WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Lafayette, was the only representative to vote Tuesday against a bill forcing the Trump administration to release the complete investigatory records of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Higgins said in a statement that the documents’ release could endanger the innocent. “As written, this bill reveals and injures thousands of innocent people — witnesses, people who provided alibis, family members, Higgins etc. If enacted in its current form, this type of broad reveal of crimi- ä Congress nal investigative files, released acts swiftly to a rabid media, will absolutely to send result in innocent people being Epstein files hurt,” Higgins said. The House voted 427 to 1 to bill to Trump. send the Epstein Files Transpar- PAGE 3A ency Act to the U.S. Senate for consideration. The rest of Louisiana’s House delegation voted in favor. A member of the House Oversight committee, Higgins said the panel has released 60,000 documents. “That effort will continue in a manner that provides all due protections for innocent Americans. If the Senate amends the bill to properly address
ä See HIGGINS, page 8A
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO By MARK SCHIEFELBEIN
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, chairs the Senate’s health committee.
With Affordable Care Act tax credits set to expire, Republicans considering other extension ideas BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy’s proposal for covering the health care costs of millions of low-income workers and small businesses is gaining traction among the various proposals trotted out to address the Affordable Care Act health insurance — the key dispute in the historically long federal government shutdown. Rather than simply extending enhanced tax credits that Democrats want and most Republicans oppose, the Baton Rouge Republican who chairs the Senate’s health committee would redirect the money into tax-free accounts. This would allow individuals to choose how the money
would be spent, he said. Qualified beneficiaries could decide on their whether to purchase a less expensive policy and use the money to pay higher deductibles, copays and out-of-pocket expenses, Cassidy said in an interview. “It’s a sweet spot: lower premiums, help with the deductible, making the patient the informed consumer,” Cassidy said. “If we’re able to take the amount of money going into the enhanced premium tax credit and put it into a Flexible Spending Account, the rate you’re paying for your insurance does not have to change because what you’re doing is applying the enhanced premium tax credit to your deductible and to your copay.” About 24 million working Ameri-
cans, and 293,000 in Louisiana, use the pandemic-era tax credits to cover the gap between cost of health care insurance policies on the Affordable Care Act marketplace and what they can afford. Those subsidies are set to expire in six weeks, which would lead to an average doubling of policy prices and would force about 4 million people off health care insurance, according to the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan arm of Congress that estimates financial costs of legislation. Still, Republicans have balked at the cost of the program, which they argue was supposed to be a temporary pandemic-era benefit.
ä See CASSIDY, page 6A
Youngsville names assistant police chief BY JOEL THOMPSON Staff writer
The Youngsville Police Department recently named a new assistant police chief, as former Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s Office Assistant Chief Kenny Duhon was sworn in by Youngsville Chief JP Broussard to the open position. Duhon, who was born and raised in Youngsville, has a background in law enforcement that spans 42 years, 33 of which were spent in the Sheriff’s Office. Prior to his appointment, Duhon served as a captain with the Office of the State Fire Marshal. “Throughout his career, Duhon has demonstrated expertise,” the Youngsville Police Department
ä See YOUNGSVILLE, page 6A
N.O. braces for Border Patrol sweeps Details have not been finalized, sources say
BY JAMES FINN and LARA NICHOLSON Staff writers
Federal Border Patrol agents are poised to launch immigration sweeps in the New Orleans area, according to people familiar with the plans and local law enforcement officials, spurring anxiety among immigrants and blowback from some Democratic politicians. Details, including the size of the Border Patrol deployment, where in the New Orleans area agents might operate and the timeline of their arrival,
WEATHER HIGH 84 LOW 63 PAGE 12A
have not been finalized, according to multiple people briefed on the plans who requested anonymity because the operation has not been publicly announced. Still, signs that the metro area could see an infusion of federal agents as soon as late this week spurred frenzied reaction in recent days from officials, advocates and immigration attorneys. One construction company owner has told Hispanic workers not to show up for work beginning on Friday for fear of immigration raids. New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick is set to discuss the operation this week with Border Patrol officials. They’re coming, so I am going to be a partner,” Kirkpatrick said on WBOK
Radio on Tuesday, adding that her officers would not conduct immigration arrests or question people about their immigration status. Planning documents reviewed by The Associated Press show 250 Border Patrol agents are poised to focus on neighborhoods and commercial hubs throughout southeast Louisiana, the outlet reported Tuesday. The agents plan to fan out across a region stretching from New Orleans through Jefferson, St. Bernard and St. Tammany parishes north to Baton Rouge and into Mississippi. The revelations signal that the Trump administration has chosen the Crescent
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By MATT KELLEy
U.S. Border Patrol agents expanded their immigration crackdown in North Carolina to include the Raleigh area as ä See SWEEPS, page 8A well as Charlotte. Story, page 2A.
Business ...................10C Commentary ................3B Nation-World ................2A Classified ..................10A Living............................5C Opinion ........................2B Comics-Puzzles .....7C-9C Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
101ST yEAR, NO. 142