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Baton Rouge?s rainy weather mirrored the gloom inside the Capitol Monday, as Gov. John Bel Edwards presented a 2019 doomsday budget with deep cuts in the popular TOPS college scholarship program and in state health services, saying he hopes they never go into effect.

Under his proposal, TOPS would be gutted, losing all $233 million in state general funds, while the budget for higher education institutions would be slashed by $272 million. The Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH), which oversees the state?s Medicaid program and hospitals, would suffer a $488 million cut in state funding and ultimately lose $2.3 billion once federal matching funds are factored in.

?There?s not a cut in that budget proposal that I?m advocating for,? the governor said when presenting his proposal to the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget.?