Despite pleas from Louisiana’s Congressional delegation, there is no funding in a government funding bill that the U.S. House is set to approve today. Baton Rouge Congressman Garret Graves says it’s disappointing.
“I don’t know how in the world you do something like that whenever we’re giving billions and billions of dollars in humanitarian aid to Ukraine, all sorts of efforts to Haiti and other countries,” said Graves.
Louisiana has already received 600-million dollars in community block grant funding for the hurricanes that hit in 2020 and 2021, but Governor John Bel Edwards says the need is much greater, especially in southwest Louisiana.
“You’ve got to communicate to people how dire things are at home in some of these communities, and apparently it got buried in thousands and thousands of other requests, it’s not ok, it’s not,” said Graves.
Southwest Louisiana Congressman Clay Higgins informed the House and Senate Appropriations committee that there’s at least a 300-million shortfall in federal funding for housing needs. Senator Bill Cassidy says many of his colleagues believe Lousiana does not need additional federal assistance.
“They look at Lousiana’s budget and they say wait a second you got a surplus, why is the federal government giving money, if that money is there as a surplus,” said Cassidy.
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