BATON ROUGE, La. (KLFY) — Gov. John Bel Edwards has issued a letter to President Trump asking that the federal government help the state keep the Louisiana National Guard (LANG) active in the COVID-19 crisis at 100 percent funding instead of 75 percent.

On Thursday, Edwards said that current Title 32 authorization requires Louisiana to pay 25 percent of the costs of using LANG for COVID-19 operations, even though states like Texas and Florida are being funded at 100 percent by the feds. This is despite Louisiana’s status as the leading state for COVID-19 infections per capita nationwide.

Edwards said that currently, the state is paying $2.5 million per month for LANG operations, which would amount to around $10 million by the year’s end.

“The public health emergency in Louisiana is significantly greater than that of Florida or Texas,” stated Edwards in the letter. “Utilizing data available from each state health department, cumulative COVID-19 case incidence and the cumulative COVID-19 death rate are higher in Louisiana than Florida and Texas, with Louisiana’s death rate due to COVID-19 being higher than Florida and Texas combined.”

You can download and read Edwards’ entire letter to the president below: