Landrieu on Bush Visit:

“We Need Real Action”
On 18-month Katrina anniversary, calls for

immediate steps to advance hurricane recovery.

 

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., said this afternoon that while President Bush’s visit to the Gulf Coast today is appreciated, more effective steps need to be taken by the federal government to spur hurricane recovery in the region.

“The President has had 18 months to listen – to hear that the realities of the federal response have not lived up to the promises he made in Jackson Square,” Sen. Landrieu said, noting that today marks exactly a year and a half since Hurricane Katrina came ashore on August 29, 2005.  “We need the President to take real action.  We need his leadership. We need him to get FEMA and the Army Corps moving.”

Sen. Landrieu specifically cited the President’s authority under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Assistance and Emergency Relief Act to waive the requirement that local communities match 10 percent of the cost for recovery projects before the remaining 90 percent is filled by the federal government.  This cost sharing provision has been waived 32 times since 1985 when per capita rebuilding costs have been excessive. 

In 1992, President George H. W. Bush waived the cost sharing requirement when the per capita recovery cost of Hurricane Andrew reached $139.  The requirement was also waived for New York City following the attacks of September 11^th, where the per capita cost totaled $390.  But despite a $6,700 per capita recovery cost following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and local communities stretched to the limit by high rebuilding costs and a decimated tax base generating little revenue, the Administration has thus far refused to waive the requirement.

“The President can move the recovery of the Gulf Coast forward by a giant leap with a simple stroke of his pen,” said Sen. Landrieu, who on February 9 sent the President a letter asking that the requirement be waived.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Homeland Security Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., co-signed the letter.  Sen. Landrieu has also introduced legislation, the Fair Assistance in Recovery Funding Act, to waive the requirement and intends to offer a similar amendment to the 9/11 Commission Bill.

“I call upon the President to use his authority to do the right thing,” Sen. Landrieu said. “The fair thing.  If he won’t, I will push hard to get it done legislatively.”

Sen. Landrieu also discussed the upcoming Supplemental Appropriations Bill, which the Senate is expected to take up later this month.  In the President’s budget request, the Administration proposed correcting a $1.3 billion cost overrun on levee projects authorized in the Third Supplemental Appropriations Bill by moving the funds from levee projects identified in the Fourth Supplemental.  The additional costs were principally the result of increased labor and material costs following the hurricanes.

“Casting aside the lessons learned from years of underfunding levee protection to devastating results, the Administration seeks now to shuffle $1.3 billion from one set of projects to another rather than pay the bill for each,” Sen. Landrieu said.  “This ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’ strategy may cover up the Administration’s underestimation of short-term protection costs, but it leaves open a gaping budgetary hole for another day.  This bureaucratic shell game has deadly consequences. The only way to fix the situation is with a comprehensive levee and flood control program for the entire area – West Bank and East – that’s fully funded with immediate implementation.”

Reflecting on a dramatic increase in violent crime in the New Orleans region since the start of the year, Sen. Landrieu announced that she would seek $50 million in the Supplemental Bill to fund a comprehensive response to the problem.  The most immediate component of the request would be to fully fund a $6.32 million proposal by metro New Orleans business leaders and civic groups to meet urgent operational needs. 

The funds would provide for hiring back 50 former New Orleans police officers to fill the void in officers on the street.  Current total officer strength stands at only 1,250 – well below the authorized number of 1,600. The plan also includes nearly $1 million to hire eight additional Orleans Parish prosecutors and $2 million to support the development of an information-sharing project between criminal justice agencies in the region. The goal is to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of system-wide criminal justice operations.

“This problem is so serious that the federal government must be fully engaged,” Sen. Landrieu said.  “We need to beef up the crime-fighting operations in the state by making sure the law enforcement community has the resources it needs to apprehend and prosecute the criminals on the streets.”

- 30 -