[StBernard] EDITORIAL: Rescue the Road Home

[Westley Annis]

EDITORIAL: Rescue the Road Home 


The Times-Picayune
November 8, 2007


Congress is set to vote on a 2008 Department of Defense spending bill that contains $3 billion for the Road Home shortfall, and it's no small victory that congressional negotiators agreed to include the money. 

Gov. Kathleen Blanco and other Louisiana leaders have been lobbying Congress for months to provide more money for the troubled housing grant program, which will otherwise run out of money by late December or mid-January. 

The issue was not a major point of contention when House and Senate negotiators sat down to work out differences over the defense bill, and that's a good sign. 

But the additional Road Home money isn't a lock; it could get caught up in congressional wrangling over Iraq. That would be horribly unfair to storm victims who are still waiting for grants to rebuild their flood-damaged homes. Louisiana's congressional delegation needs to stick together to make sure the Road Home doesn't become a casualty. 

Republicans are unhappy that the appropriation bill doesn't include money for Iraq. Democrats want to wait until next year to consider $190 billion in war spending, but Sen. Ted Stevens, an Alaska Republican, says that the Army could run out of money in January and the Marine Corps by March. 

Republican lawmakers want bridge funding in the bill that will make sure troops have enough resources at least through spring. While Senate Democrats were willing to consider that plan, House Democrats shot it down. 

The partisan divide over Iraq has nothing to do with New Orleans' recovery. But if Republicans are unhappy over Iraq financing, they could object to the bill on procedural grounds since the original House and Senate versions did not include money for the Road Home. 

Gov.-elect Bobby Jindal urged the Senate not to let that happen, and Sen. David Vitter said that he's willing to pass the defense bill with the Road Home money intact and take up the question of financing troops in Iraq later. That's a reasonable position, and one that Louisiana officials need to try to persuade Congress to take. 

To view the editorial on the Times-Picayune Web site visit:
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/editorials/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1194503385317450.xml&coll=1 <http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/editorials/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1194503385317450.xml&coll=1> 

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated South Louisiana, claiming 1,464 lives, destroying more than 200,000 homes and 18,000 businesses. The Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA) is the planning and coordinating body that was created in the aftermath of these storms by Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco to lead one of the most extensive rebuilding efforts in the world. The LRA is a 33-member body which is coordinating across jurisdictions, supporting community recovery and resurgence, ensuring integrity and effectiveness, and planning for the recovery and rebuilding of Louisiana.

####