The Ville Platte Rotary Club met today for their regular meeting. The guest speaker was Senator Eric LaFleur, who spoke about the recent session. He discussed budget cuts. He said that Medicare was cut, mostly with preventative care, such as mammograms. He also spoke about the recent healthcare bill that was voted on by the Supreme Court. Senator LaFleur agreed that health care reform was much needed and that we need to promote a healthy lifestyle as a big part of preventative care.
Senator LaFleur also discussed education and the voucher program as well as teacher tenure, pointing out that it was important for principals to be able to fire bad teachers regardless of their tenure status.
A question was brought up about the testing of welfare recipients to make sure they were not using illegal drugs. Senator LaFleur is against drug testing for welfare recipients, saying that there is already a screening program in place. He alluded to a slippery slope, saying that if we were to test welfare recipients, then it could lead to the testing of anyone who receives money, such as T.O.P.S. students. He concluded by saying that the welfare system isn’t perfect, but it’s much better than what it used to be, because now recipients are limited for the number of years they can be on welfare.