Disaster Preparedness & Recovery

Senator Landrieu led numerous battles to aid Louisiana's recovery and rebuilding efforts after the 2005 hurricanes. She successfully eliminated a requirement that state and local governments pay for a portion of projects to repair roads, schools and other public works projects, a provision that presented a huge obstacle to recovery efforts. Although the federal government eliminated the payment requirement after past disasters like the September 11 attacks and Hurricane Andrew, the administration refused to do so after the 2005 hurricanes.

Senator Landrieu is spearheading efforts to rewrite federal disaster laws, which are unsuited to deal with larger disasters like Hurricane Katrina and largely ignore communities that host disaster evacuees. In 2009, Landrieu authored legislative language under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act establishing an independent arbitration system to resolve disputed hurricane recovery projects between Gulf Coast communities and FEMA - breaking the log-jam that had stalled more than $3 billion dollars of recovery funds.  Landrieu held hearings to force FEMA and the Department of Health and Human Services to explain the delays in developing a robust disaster case management program – during the hearing it was announced that an agreement had been reached that morning establishing the first nationwide disaster case management system for future events.  Senator Landrieu also held two hearings focusing on the needs of children and families following a disaster and introduced the Child Safety, Care, and Education Continuity Act of 2010 with Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) on December 17, 2009, which addresses the needs of children displaced by a catastrophic disaster by getting them back into day care and school helping parents move towards recovery. 
 
In 2008, Landrieu held hearings to force FEMA to explain why it had not developed a National Disaster Housing Strategy after the agency missed two deadlines to do so.  In 2007, Senator Landrieu delivered $3 billion to bail out the Road Home program, which helps residents affected by the 2005 hurricanes get back into their homes. In 2008, she was successful in fixing the tax penalty assessed on Road Home recipients, bringing $1 billion in tax relief to the region's families.

Senator Landrieu also pushed to extend Gulf Opportunity Zone tax credits for businesses that invest in areas affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In 2008, she secured $300 million in tax savings for Louisiana businesses that locate in GO Zones.

Landrieu has fought tirelessly for Louisianans as they move towards recovery from the largest disaster to have struck our nation through her Chairmanship of the Small Business Committee, Chairmanship of the Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery, as well as, on the floor of the Senate.  She successfully fought for recovery funding for housing, schools and universities, agriculture, infrastructure and small businesses across the region.