[StBernard] [LANDRIEU] Our $12 Billion Day

[Westley Annis]

November 8, 2007

 

Our $12 Billion Day
House, Senate pass $3 billion Landrieu measure to fix Road Home, override
President's veto of water bill with $7 billion for state.

 

WASHINGTON - The United States Senate late tonight unanimously approved a
defense bill which includes $3 billion secured by Senator Mary L. Landrieu,
D-La., to help close an estimated $3 to $4.5 billion funding shortfall in
Louisiana's Road Home housing recovery program.  The passage followed the
successful override this morning of the President's veto of the Water
Resources Development Act (WRDA), which authorizes $7 billion in Louisiana
coastal protection projects and secures avenues of commerce throughout the
state and nation.

"Today was a truly historic, $12 billion day for Louisiana," said Sen.
Landrieu, a member of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee.
"Congress made a $3 billion pledge to Louisiana homeowners to ensure they
receive their Road Home grants to rebuild and recover.

"Republicans and Democrats joined together to buck the President's
opposition to the WRDA bill, marking the first veto override of this
presidency.

"The support shown for Louisiana tonight is a powerful demonstration of this
Congress' commitment to fully funding out state's rebuilding from the 2005
hurricanes and levee failures. We are grateful for the steadfast partnership
shown by the many Senators without whom tonight's victory would have been
impossible."

The Road Home funds were included in the Fiscal Year 2008 Defense
Appropriations Conference Report, a $471 billion compromise between Defense
Department funding bills passed by the Senate and House of Representatives
earlier this year.  The bill, which includes $2 billion in Louisiana
projects secured by Sen. Landrieu, passed the House in a 400-to-15 vote this
afternoon and now goes to the President for his signature.  



PAVING THE ROAD HOME

Sen. Landrieu worked closely with Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert
Byrd, D-W.V., Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations
Subcommittee Chairman Patty Murray, D-Wash., and other committee colleagues
to secure the Road Home funds.  

"Senators Byrd and Murray and the Senate Leadership have been essential
partners in our effort to make the Road Home whole, standing with Louisiana
through our long struggle to rebuild," Sen. Landrieu said.  "Tonight, I am
very grateful that colleagues on both sides of the aisle followed this
example and rejected intense partisan pressures of recent days to move
Louisiana's interests forward.  

"In 2005 and 2006, Louisiana's share of rebuilding funds was unfairly capped
at 54 percent despite our having suffered more than 70 percent of the damage
from the hurricanes and levee breaks.  The President was wrong to insist on
that unfair treatment then, and I urge him to set it right by signing this
bill into law now."

The legislation also funds federal government operations through December 14
at the levels authorized for fiscal year 2007, which ended October 1.
Without this Continuing Resolution, the federal government would be shut
down late next week.  



SUPPORTING OUR ARMED FORCES

Among defense-related projects in the bill, Sen. Landrieu secured more than
$2 billion in projects for Louisiana, including $287 million for Armored
Security Vehicles (ASVs) to be produced in the New Orleans area by Textron,
Inc..  The vehicles are proven to be more effective than up-armored Humvees
for protecting U.S. forces from Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), or
"roadside bombs."  

It also included $4 million Sen. Landrieu inserted for the 8th Air Force
Cyberspace Innovation Center for Cyber Combat Development, or "Cyber
Command," at Barksdale Air Force Base.  She also secured $1.45 billion to
continue construction on the LPD-17 Class of Expeditionary Warfare Ships.
The LPD-25 and 26 ships, respectively the 9th and 10th in the class, will be
built at Avondale Shipyard near New Orleans, with LPD-25 now fully funded.

"Louisiana has for generations provided strong homefront support for our
brave men and women in the armed services, and this bill reiterates that
long-standing partnership," Sen. Landrieu said.

"ASVs keep our soldier's safe from roadside bomb attacks, and I am proud
that this bill is keeping ASVs rolling out of the Textron plants in
Louisiana. It also buttresses our efforts to fight new wars in cyberspace,
and promotes job growth in the New Orleans area while we provide the best in
naval technology and engineering for our Sailors."


PROTECTING OUR COASTAL COMMUNITIES AND
SECURING AVENUES OF COMMERCE ACROSS LOUISIANA

The WRDA bill easily met the two-thirds majority threshold set by the U.S.
Constitution for overriding a Presidential veto, passing the Senate in a
79-to-14 vote today and the House by 361 to 54 yesterday.  It is only the
107th time in U.S. history that a veto has been rejected by Congress.  The
bill now becomes law - the first WRDA bill enacted in seven years despite
historical requirements for new WRDA bills every two years.

"At about 10 minutes after 12 pm eastern time today, green lights went on
all over south Louisiana, and the stop signs and the red lights came down,"
Sen. Landrieu said at a press conference after the vote today. "We started
to turn dirt, restore wetlands and build levees. We started to build the
foundation that we need for strong economic resurgence in south Louisiana
and the Gulf Coast.

 

"Congress kept its promise to the people of Louisiana and the Gulf Coast
when it enacted the Water Bill today, making it law.

"This is a strong infrastructure bill for our nation, and provides an
historic commitment to Louisiana, still in the midst of a difficult
recovery." 

The legislation includes Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA) Ecosystem Restoration,
which authorizes the Corps of Engineers to implement 16 coastal restoration
projects totaling nearly $1.9 billion. It expedites closure of the
Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO) and provides relocation assistance to
business along the canal. 

 

WRDA authorizes key hurricane protection projects, including the first steps
toward the 100-year protection in the Larose to Golden Meadow project and
$886 million for Morganza to the Gulf. The Morganza project is a series of
levees, locks and other systems through Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes
that will, when complete, serve to protect approximately 200,000 people and
1,700 square miles of land against storm surges such as those caused by
Hurricane Katrina. The bill also expedites Category 5 hurricane protection
projects.

 

- 30 -