Clyburn to Lead Congressional Delegation to Gulf Coast this Weekend
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
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WASHINGTON, DC—House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn today announced that he will be leading a congressional delegation which includes House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer to the Gulf Coast region to mark the three-year anniversary of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The trip will run from July 19-22, with events and meetings scheduled in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana as well as Waveland and Bay St. Louis Mississippi that focus on the issues of housing, health care, education, infrastructure, public safety and more. Clyburn is a leading voice in Congress on Gulf Coast recovery issues and this is the third consecutive year he will be leading a trip to the region.
Disaster can strike at any time in any region of the country, and the entire nation can learn from the experience of the Gulf Coast to prepare and respond. Our success in rebuilding the Gulf Coast will be a test of how we handle future challenges. The innovative solutions for the Gulf Coast may be models for the rest of the country in the areas of housing, health care, education, infrastructure, public safety and more. The prosperity of the region is the prosperity of America.
Democrats will deliver results on their visit—recently-appropriated $5.8 billion for levees and coastal restoration, $73 million for public housing in New Orleans, $3 billion for the Road Home program, increased small business disaster loan assistance, and funding for higher education.
A year after the storm, in 2006, when the region was still reeling from the federal government’s incompetence and congressional inaction, House Democrats dispatched to the Gulf Coast to assess the devastation and determine the needs. That trip was an important first step in an unwavering partnership House Democrats have established with the region—it informed the legislation that eventually became law in the first seven months of a new Democratic majority in the 110th Congress.
Last year, House Democrats provided effective results during their visit to the region—a waiver of the local matching requirement under the Stafford Act, saving the region $1.9 billion and triggering work on 20,000 stalled construction projects; $6.4 billion in assistance for levees, coastal restoration, teacher recruitment, school maintenance, health care, housing, small business, and law enforcement; and oversight from more than 30 congressional hearings on recovery. |
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