US Senator Bill Cassidy (R)
Efforts to bring more federal funding for coastal restoration, via higher oil & gas royalty payments, are dead for the year. Senator Bill Cassidy says he and Senator John Kennedy worked on the Reinvesting in Shoreline Economies and Ecosystems (RISE) Act was not a part of the omnibus federal spending bill that Congress must pass this week…
“The RISE Act…which I had hoped would be in…which is crucial to Louisiana’s coastal restoration efforts…were not included,” says Cassidy.
Cassidy’s RISE Act would lift a cap on royalties to energy-producing states to give them more capital for coastal rebuilding. The bill passed out of committee without opposition, but Cassidy says it got shunted aside in the mad dash to pass the federal spending bill and avoid a government shutdown. He says Congress dithers too long on important matters…
“Congress needs to do its job to get these budget bills ahead of time, and so that bills like RISE can be fully evaluated…and I think if they are, they pass. Hopefully, with Republicans in charge of the House next Congress. this will change.”
Cassidy says the RISE Act could have brought nearly $2-billion to Louisiana over ten years, and it he vows to bring it back in the next Congress. As for the spending bill itself…Cassidy says he cannot support it…
“There’s not enough in the omnibus to benefit Louisiana…to benefit those needs that I can identify…to justify voting FOR this terrible process. So as of now, I’m a no.”
Cassidy calls the failure of the RISE Act to pass, and the rush to pass the massive spending plan at the last minute “chaos by design.”
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