(R) Congressman Garret Graves - District 6
Congressman Garret Graves calls a 15 million dollar federal relief payment for Louisiana fisheries insulting.
The money came from a 300 million dollar pot established to help offset the economic impact of the pandemic on fisheries funding. Graves says it’s a lowball payment for the Sportsman’s Paradise.
“It is just completely irresponsible, out of hand, and inexcusable. It would be difficult to be able to justify those types of numbers,” says Graves.
Louisiana’s fishing economy has seen collapses in prices of crawfish, shrimp, and other water-based foods.
Graves says the value of our fisheries dwarfs that of other states who received substantially bigger payouts under the CARES Act.
“To see other states like Washington State, Oregon, California, and Florida, states that do not have the commercial or recreational fisheries that we do getting more money than us is really just an insult,” says Graves.
Washington received 50 million, California 18 million, and Florida 23 million. Graves says Louisiana’s fisheries are worth 50 percent to three times more than any of those states.
Graves says they’re requesting an investigation into what he calls the “bogus” payments to states that didn’t need them, and hopefully, we can be compensated through other ways.
“There is another 100 million dollars in disaster fisheries funding that we had set aside previously and we have asked for a substantial chunk of that to come to Louisiana,” says Graves.
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