Senate OKs war bill, La. funds

• By GERARD SHIELDS
• Advocate Washington bureau
• Published: Jun 27, 2008 - Page: 6A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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WASHINGTON — The Senate approved an emergency war spending bill Thursday that includes $5.8 billion for Louisiana to more quickly shore up New Orleans-area levees but failed to contain additional hurricane recovery money for hospitals and criminal justice.

The state will, however, receive $76 million to provide 3,000 permanent housing vouchers for the poor in Louisiana, with two out of three vouchers dedicated to New Orleans.

The state also failed to get a break on its share of paying for the levee funding. Louisiana delegation members and Gov. Bobby Jindal contend the 35 percent state share is higher than the 25 and 30 percent share authorized under current law.

Louisiana congressional delegation members pledged to petition the Bush administration to allow the cost share changes.

“I’m not ready to throw in the towel yet,” said U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., who voted in favor of the bill, said. “It’s a setback, but we’ll keep pushing.”

Louisiana would be faced with paying $1.8 billion over the next three years. The state had proposed allowing the funding to be stretched over 30 years. Having to pay $1.1 billion in 2010 alone would amount to a third of the state’s discretionary budget and an extra $200 million, Jindal said in a letter to the Senate earlier this week.

“Placing this extraordinary burden upon the backs of Louisiana citizens would set back our recovery efforts for years,” Jindal wrote. “The large cuts to budgets, services and programs required to make $1.8 billion available for levees would have a profound impact on Louisiana families across our state.”

The state also did not get $157 million requested for hospitals that suffered financial loss following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The money would have been given to six hospitals in Orleans and Jefferson Parishes, including the LSU Interim Hospital.

The delegation had sought $50 million in crime funding to help New Orleans hire 15 additional officers, repair its damaged crime lab and hire additional prosecutors. U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., has introduced a stand-alone bill for the levee cost share money.

“I’m disappointed,” said Vitter, who voted in favor of the measure. “The extra hurricane money, clearly in my mind, wouldn’t have attracted a presidential veto.”

Much of the funding was stripped out by House appropriators, who expressed concern the money could not be offset in the federal budget, adding to the national deficit. President Bush had also threatened to veto any bill that contains an inordinate amount of domestic spending.

U.S. Rep. Charles “Charlie” Melancon, D-Napoleonville, also expressed disappointment in the lack of extra Louisiana funding, blaming the president.

“The reality is, we were working with a president who has called domestic spending ‘excessive’ and threatened to veto the entire bill because of it,” Melancon said in a statement. “Even though the additional recovery funding totaled less than what we spend in one day in Iraq.”