[StBernard] Washington Report from Rep. Richard H. Baker

[Westley Annis]

May 19, 2006

Thank you for signing up for Congressman Baker's newsletter. Below are issue
updates that you may find interesting. As always, please visit his website
at http://www.baker.house.gov <http://www.baker.house.gov/>  for the most
up-to-date news and information on what Congressman Baker is working on in
the Sixth Congressional District of Louisiana.

Baker Introduces Bill to Reform Post-Disaster Housing Policy

U.S. Rep. Richard H. Baker, a senior member of the House Financial Services
committee, which has jurisdiction over federal housing policy, has been
joined by the committee's top-ranking Democrat, Rep. Barney Frank of
Massachusetts, to introduce legislation that would reform the way the
federal government responds to long-term housing needs created by natural
disasters.

The "Natural Disaster Housing Reform Act" (H.R. 5393), would designate HUD
the lead federal agency on housing for disasters resulting in long-term
housing needs. The bill would also discourage the creation of "trailer
cities" and instead authorize the use, effective for Katrina and Rita
survivors, of safer, more cost-effective modular housing, or "Katrina
cottages," currently frowned upon by FEMA because of strict guidelines
against providing "permanent" housing.

"One of the major lessons learned from Katrina is how the storm completely
overwhelmed FEMA's rules and ability for responding to a disaster that
created wide-spread destruction of housing," said Cong. Baker. "We need the
ability right now to provide folks creative, longer-term options like
Katrina cottages, and we need common sense reforms down the road to give
authority to the right federal agency that has the tools to help people and
to avoid another situation in which we spend $9 billion on cruise ships and
trailers instead of putting that money toward our long-term housing
solutions."

Congressman Baker Sponsors Legislation to Extend Unemployment Assistance for
Victims of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita

Representative Baker recently introduced H.R. 5392, legislation that would
amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to
extend unemployment assistance to individuals directly affected by Hurricane
Katrina and Hurricane Rita. If approved, this temporary assistance,
currently set to expire on June 3, 2006, would be offered for thirteen
additional weeks.

Baker Applauds Senate's Approval of English as America's National Language

Congressman Baker is very supportive of the Senate's May 18 approval of an
amendment to S. 2611, the "Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act," which
would declare English as the national language of the United States and to
promote the patriotic integration of prospective US citizens. The amendment
was approved by a vote of 63-34. Representative Baker states, "While I
disagree with some of the measures being proposed in the Senate's
immigration legislation, designating English as our nation's official
language has my full support."