Washington watch for Oct. 19, 2009

• By GERARD SHIELDS
• Advocate Washington bureau
• Published: Oct 19, 2009

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A federal judge has postponed the sentencing for former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson until Nov. 13.

Jefferson was supposed to be sentenced Oct. 30 but his attorneys requested the two-week delay because the federal probation office failed to present its pre-sentencing report by the required 35-day deadline.

The New Orleans Democrat was convicted in August of 11 counts of public corruption including bribery, conspiracy, money laundering and racketeering. He faces a prison sentence of up to 20 years.

In a recent bankruptcy filing, Jefferson reported that he owes the law firm of his defense attorney, Robert Trout, $5.7 million for his work on the case over the past two years.

Landrieu grades SBA

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., recently chaired a meeting of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee in Galveston, Texas, in which she gave good marks to the Small Business Administration for improvement in handling Hurricane Ike.

The SBA took an average of five days to process home disaster loans and 12 days to process business disaster loans following the hurricane. The numbers were in contrast to the 90 days for home loans and 70 days for business loans following Hurricane Katrina four years ago.

Landrieu said, however, the agency still needs to address reforms she called for after Katrina that include improving public awareness of SBA disaster programs, better coordination between state and federal agencies and the implementation of a disaster loan pilot program, which will be funded by Congress this year.

Comite diversion to get funds

Passage last week of the energy and water appropriations bill will mean more than $90 million for Louisiana projects.

Among the funding pushed by Landrieu is $4.8 million to continue construction of the Comite River Diversion project aimed at reducing flooding in East Baton Rouge and Livingston parishes by diverting waters to the Mississippi River.

The project involves constructing a 12-mile diversion channel between the Comite and Mississippi rivers north of Baker and south of Zachary.

Also included in the legislation is $19.9 million to dredge the Calcasieu River and Pass Ship Channel that serves the Port of Lake Charles and Cameron Parish.