[StBernard] Yesterday, Charlie Melancon had a few choice words for legislation passed by Congress:

[Westley Annis]

	And what absolutley kills me with this is how short-sighted these
idiots are.
	 
	They're gonna spend the money now (on levees) or spend it the next
time the levees fail and it will be a helluva lot more than the cost of
correcting those levees!!  Sheesh!!
	 
	JY
	 
	 
	-----------------------------------------------------
	Yesterday, Charlie Melancon had a few choice words for legislation
passed by
	Congress:
	
	Today the U.S. House of Representatives passed an emergency
supplemental
	appropriations bill which included a $19.1 billion hurricane relief
package
	for the Gulf Coast. 
	Unfortunately, the bill fell short in two critical areas, levees and
	housing. In December, the White House announced the need for $600
million
	for levee armoring in the N ew Orleans area but unfortunately only
$170
	million of that was included in today´s bill. 
	On a largely party line vote, a measure written by Rep. Charlie
Melancon to
	add $465 million in levee and hurricane protection funding was
defeated.
	The funding proposed by Melancon would have brought the bill´s levee
	spending back up to the president´s requested level, providing for
crucial
	coastal restoration and hurricane protection.
	Additionally, efforts by Congressman William Jefferson to increase
the money
	available for Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) also failed
on
	similar partisan votes. The additional funding for the program would
have
	allowed other states to meet the needs of their citizens while still
letting
	Louisiana receive the $4.2 billion in CDBG needed for its housing
plan.
	Congressman Melancon released the following statement: 
	"Congress keeps saying it wants to help. With our levee and housing
	amendments, we had the opportunity today to give the people of
Louisiana the
	hope and confidence they need to return and rebuild. But
unfortunately, the
	Congress decided to leave us with uncertainty and doubt as we
continue to
	wither on the vine waiting for the help we need. 
	"Many of those ´No´ votes came from the very people in leadership
who came
	to the Gulf Coast to see firsthand the devastation. It was just two
weeks
	ago that they left the desolate streets and splintered homes of
Gulfport and
	Chalmette and I have to wonder, did they forget what they saw so
soon?
	"With the next hurricane season around the corner, now is exactly
the wrong
	time to underfund levee protection. As far as I´m concerned, today´s
action
	was a vote to leave South Louisiana underwater. 
	"It continues to amaze me how some people in Washington keep making
excuses
	when it comes to helping American citizens on the Gulf Coast. While
we
	continue to suffer in Louisiana, this Congress woul d like nothing
more than
	for us to say ´thank you, sir´ and sit down and shut up. I will not
sit
	down and I certainly will not go away."