[StBernard] Senate Committee Passes Supplemental Bill with $8.7B Landrieu Package for Gulf Coast Recovery

[Westley Annis]

Senate Committee Passes Supplemental Bill with $8.7B Landrieu 

Package for Gulf Coast Recovery
Bill heads to Senate floor.

 

WASHINGTON - The Senate Appropriations Committee today passed an $8.7
billion package for Gulf Coast hurricane recovery secured by United States
Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., and the committee's Chairman Robert C.
Byrd, D-W.Va. The package that includes funding for levees, criminal justice
needs, health care and housing for low-income hurricane survivors was passed
as part of the Emergency Supplemental Spending bill for Iraq and
Afghanistan. 

            "The Senate Appropriations Committee today passed the
Supplemental with Gulf Coast provisions in tact," Sen. Landrieu said.
"Chairman Byrd truly stood with Louisiana today, and the Gulf Coast is one
step closer to $8.7 billion for levees, crime prevention, hospitals, and
housing for our homeless.

"I will be working with my Senate Appropriations colleagues to ensure this
package remains safe on the Senate floor, and beyond that, in negotiations
with the House. I will also fight to strengthen the bill on the floor by
ensuring the Morganza to the Gulf hurricane protection project moves forward
without further delay. This legislation is a key vehicle for federal
recovery dollars this year, and our delegation is hard at work in both
chambers of Congress to ensure our state's needs are appropriately
addressed." 

While the House of Representatives did include significantly more
restrictive levee funding in its version of the Supplemental, it did not
include a Katrina and Rita recovery package like that secured by Sens.
Landrieu and Byrd. After final passage by the Senate, the two chambers will
negotiate the two versions of the bill before it is sent to the President's
Desk. The President has opposed including any domestic funding in the bill,
and has threatened a veto. 

Levees

The Senate bill includes $5.8 billion for 100-year flood protection with a
$1.3 billion state share. Louisiana's share was reduced from $1.5 billion,
which President Bush had requested in his annual budget and the House
concurred with. The cost share for Southeast Louisiana Flood Control
projects (SELA) was maintained at a historical cost share of 75 percent
federal to 25 percent state, rather than an increase to 35 percent as the
President had proposed. The cost share for Lake Pontchartrain and vicinity
hurricane protection project was also maintained at a historical cost share
of 70 percent federal to 30 percent state, rather President Bush's proposed
increase to 35 percent by the state. 

Other hurricane protection provisions in the Supplemental include: 

. $75 million to move public facilities from the Port of New Orleans to
accelerate the closing of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO). 

. As much as $60 million for Mississippi River dredging and repair of flood
protection projects critically damaged by recent flooding. This funding
means the Army Corps of Engineers will not have to reprogram money from
other projects to complete necessary dredging of the river. 

. Language directing the Corps to look at options for developing plans for
permanent pumping of storm water in the New Orleans metropolitan area,
taking into account the operational challenges that arise during major
storms. Proposed plans include slow paving of outflow canals and the "Pump
to the River" project in Jefferson Parish. 

Criminal Justice

The Senate Supplemental includes $75 million for criminal justice needs
along the Gulf Coast, of which $50 million will go to Louisiana. Sen.
Landrieu will work with the Department of Justice and the state to
distribute the money in line with a comprehensive strategy developed by the
New Orleans Crime Coalition, a group of business groups and nonprofits that
are working to reduce rising crime in the New Orleans region. Priorities of
the New Orleans Crime Coalition include hiring more police officers to fill
vacancies; repairing the city's damaged crime lab; hiring more prosecutors
and attorneys; purchasing equipment that was destroyed, such as radios and
laptops; and drug treatment programs for adults and juveniles. 

Hospitals

The Senate bill includes $350 million for hospitals in Louisiana and
Mississippi, and Louisiana will be allocated approximately 45 percent of the
total, or about $157 million. The Louisiana funds will go to six hospitals
in Jefferson and Orleans Parishes: West Jefferson General Hospital, East
Jefferson General Hospital, Ochsner, Touro Rehab, Tulane and LSU Interim
Hospital (Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans).  Since the storms,
more than half of the New Orleans area hospitals and healthcare facilities
have not reopened. More than 6,000 physicians have left the Gulf Coast since
the storms and have not yet returned. When patients are brought to the
hospital by ambulance, 70 percent of them remain in the ambulance for two
hours before a room can be found. 

Housing

The Senate Supplemental also includes $70 million for 3,000 Permanent
Supportive Housing Vouchers. An additional $6 million was included for
program administration and case management. These vouchers provide homes and
case management services for extremely low-income people, including seniors
and those with disabilities who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
This provision was previously included in a 2006 Supplemental but was
stripped out in negotiations with the House of Representatives and the White
House. 

 

By January 2007, the homeless population in New Orleans almost doubled from
its pre-Katrina levels to an estimated 12,000. These homeless residents are
living in abandoned housing, on the streets, in cars or in limited shelters
or other homeless-designated housing. 

As part of the Road Home program, Louisiana committed to providing 3,000
permanent supportive housing units for elderly, disabled and other homeless
residents most at-risk. However, these units have been coming online without
necessary federal funding. 

Minority Business Provision

The Senate Supplemental includes language to extend 8(a) business
development program eligibility by 24 months for program participants in
Katrina-impacted areas in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. 

The 8(a) business development program helps minority entrepreneurs access
Federal contracts and allows companies to be certified for increments of
three years. However, as currently structured, the program allows businesses
to participate for nine years only after which they can never re-apply or
get back into the program. But many minority firms in the Gulf Coast were
disrupted by Hurricane Katrina and lost valuable time for participating in
the 8(a) program. The provision provides these businesses an additional two
years to participate. 

Other Louisiana Provisions in the Senate Supplemental

*	$15 million for historic renovation of Jackson Barracks. 
*	$5 million to Holly Beach La. for a waste water and sewer system.
*	Language to require the administration to follow the provisions of
the National Marine Sanctuaries Act before designating any protected area in
the Gulf of Mexico. The provision will protect the Louisiana fishing
industry.

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