E-mail a friendSen. Mary Landrieu
airdate January 31, 2007
Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu is part of a political family—her father was New Orleans' mayor and her brother is the state's lieutenant governor. Considered a moderate, she's the state's senior senator and first woman elected to a full Senate term. Her committee assignments include Appropriations and Energy and Natural Resources. Landrieu, whose home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, is on a mission to keep the Gulf Coast rebuilding effort alive for both the Democratic and Republican parties.
Sen. Mary Landrieu talks about the role race, class, and the Iraq war play in rebuilding from Hurricane Katrina.
Sen. Mary Landrieu
Tavis: Senator Mary Landrieu is the chair of the Disaster Recovery Subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. In that capacity, she and other members held hearings in New Orleans on Monday to focus on the slow pace of recovery efforts there. She joins us tonight from Capitol Hill. Senator Landrieu, nice to have you on the program, as always.
Sen. Mary Landrieu: Thank you, Tavis.
Tavis: Let me ask for starters whether or not you are happy, content, with the coverage these hearings have received. Because while in certain circles people are talking about this, this has not been the kind of story that I thought it should be, given what came out of those hearings. So, are you happy with the coverage of these hearings earlier this week?
Landrieu: Well, I'm happy that Joe Lieberman came to New Orleans and brought Barack Obama with him, and helped me to get this attention of the nation refocused on Katrina and Rita, and the devastation that still exists in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast. And I know you’ve covered it and been down there. But we have a long way to go.
And continuing to say the truth, which is the federal government was caught flat-footed when this disaster happened 18 months ago. And we still have a quarter of a million people out of homes; we still have hundreds of schools that haven’t been rebuilt. We still have FEMA worksheets that were promised to build libraries and schools, and now they're reneging on it.
And I could go on and on. But this president, Bush, did not mention New Orleans or the region or Louisiana or the Gulf Coast in his State of the Union, and that really is, as Barack said, shameful. And we’ve gotta get this nation focused on rebuilding the coast, whether this administration is going to do it or not.
Tavis: Let me ask you how you do that, if the president doesn’t take the lead on that. If the president won't even acknowledge it in the most important speech of the year, how do you get traction on this issue?
Landrieu: Well Tavis, let me first say that while I am disappointed in the president and not saying it in the State of the Union, and I do not believe that he himself has given the leadership and time on this issue that it deserves, some of his Cabinet members have been down to the state dozens and dozens of times, trying to help.
But now that the Democrats are in charge of Congress ... and look, I can work across party lines, and do. I have a moderate voting record, as you know, and bipartisan. But we had no power. Now, Democrats do have control of the House and the Senate, and I know that Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are focused on helping the people, wherever they are, Republican or Democrat or Independent, Black, White, or Hispanic, that need help to get help.
And I think that we can do that. Now, we’re gonna lay some plans out. We’re not just gonna throw money. But we’ve got some things that we can do, and I'm very hopeful that this Congress will make more progress than we did last Congress.
Tavis: Let me ask you what you think it is that most Americans, right now as we speak, do not get, do not get about what is still happening, or not happening, as it were, in your region.
Landrieu: Well, let me give you a very specific, something that just happened yesterday. Yesterday in New Orleans, or the night before, 700 people waited, some of them overnight, some of them sleeping in cars, to get regular healthcare checkups. Now, this is in America, a year and a half after the storm, out in New Orleans east, which is not a poor area.
It is a middle class and very wealthy area, predominantly African-American but middle class and wealthy, for health services. I’d like to tell people we don't have mental health beds in the city. We don't have one female juvenile bed in the entire region, or in New Orleans. We probably have some in the region. And they're wondering, well, how can that be? The Congress has spent $110 billion.
But remember, Tavis, the Congress had defanged FEMA. It was anemic, it wasn’t working very well. They poured all this money through FEMA, and then wondered why it didn’t get to us. It’s like buying ice, putting it on ice trucks. It’s not our fault it never got delivered. So I've been fighting somewhat of a losing battle up here to try to get new ways to send money and shortcut and push out the red tape.
Now with Democrats in control, maybe we can get some help to people who need it. Rich people need help, poor people need help, and middle class families need help.
Tavis: When you mention red tape, Senator, help me understand how it is that there is so much red tape involved in this process, the numbers are that I've read that roughly $344 million has been sent from FEMA to the state. Of that 344, about 150 million, I should say only 150 million has made its way to the city of New Orleans. That’s a lot of money tied up in red tape. How’s that possible?
Landrieu: Well, part of it is is that Louisiana got very shortchanged on our community development block grants. We had about 70 percent of the damage. Mississippi, well, we had 75. Mississippi had 25. But we got about the same amount of money. So Louisiana got shortchanged, the whole state of Louisiana, by the federal government.
Then the money went to the state, and the state had to figure out ways to spread it out to all the coastal parishes. New Orleans was hard hit, as you know. But it was not, as bad as it is, and it is my hometown, and it was hit very badly. St. Bernard Parish, which sits right next to New Orleans, was completely destroyed. One hundred percent of their houses were lost, 75,000 people, middle class parish.
So they’ve not gotten the money they needed, either. It’s been a combination of terrible management from the federal government, and then slow to put together at the state level, and frankly, some aspects of city government haven’t worked as well, either. So all around, we have work to do. But I'm gonna be now the subcommittee chair of this Homeland Security committee. (Laugh)
I think I'm gonna be everybody’s worst nightmare. I'm gonna try to do it respectfully, but I'm gonna be tough about building a better FEMA. Tavis, our people in America deserve the very best, and this is not anywhere near what they should expect if they have to leave their homes or lose their businesses due to a disaster.
Tavis: Let me ask you right quick whether or not this has anything to do ... that is to say, the fact that the government isn't taking this as seriously as they should ... has to do with race and class, or has to do with the fact that as long as Iraq is the dominant issue, you ain’t gonna get nothing done in New Orleans.
Landrieu: Well, I think what you said in the latter sentence is more true than the first, although there is some truth to the first. Iraq has taken center stage with this administration. We've been there four and a half years, we’ve lost 3,000 soldiers. And we have spent over $400 billion and rising. So if you're not Iraq, you get second shift.
Now, I know Iraq’s important, and it is the most important issue to Americans to get resolved. But we have a big country, and there are 50 states, and there are many domestic problems. Insurance problems, housing problems, infrastructure problems, and economic problems that deserve this administration’s attention. And we’ve got a Gulf Coast that was hit by the most expensive storm in the third, Katrina and Rita, and then levee breaks that flooded a great American city that we need help with.
So, I think, and then race played somewhat of a part, and class. But I like to try to say, Tavis, as often as I can, people are prejudice, but water isn't, and flooding isn't. It went everywhere. It flooded millionaires’ homes; it flooded middle class, and poor. And the federal government really was caught flat-footed. And now, we’re struggling.
And even if you can get your money from the Road Home program, you can’t afford your insurance rates. Or your mortgage company wants you to pay off your mortgage first before they will lend you money to build. No telling. Or you're coming back, but no one in your neighborhood is. So you have to think, do I wanna be the only one back on my block? People are going through very tough decisions about whether to rebuild, and how to rebuild. And if you’ve seen the city, you understand what I'm talking about.
Tavis: I have seen it, and I’ll continue to come down there. We’ll continue to cover this story, and I'm glad to have you on.
Landrieu: And Tavis, just one more thing, if I could. We want people to come. The French Quarter was not hurt. The Central Business District was hurt, but we’re recovered. Our hotels are open. We need conventions and we need tourists. So come and help us out. And while you're there, work on a Habitat house, or help some of our musicians get back on their feet. We could use the visitors to come and see.
Tavis: Senator Mary Landrieu, as always, nice to have you on.
Landrieu: Thank you.
Tavis: We’ll continue to talk about it. Take care.
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