Republican U.S. Rep. Garret Graves says Louisiana will receive today $1.65 billion for flood relief that the federal government has already approved, but a spokesman for Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards says Graves is mistaken and the state will not have access to the money today.
Furthermore, Graves says the state could have already received $438 million of the total allocation were it not for a request from the state that all the money be released in one lump sum. The governor’s office also denies that charge.
“The bottom line is this: They could have distributed $438 million to flood victims by now. Period,” Graves says. “The state’s comment that the funds were not available due to the federal bureaucracy is a blatant violation of the honor code.”
Richard Carbo, a spokesman for the governor, says Graves is confused about the process for the state receiving the flood recovery money—$438 million of which was approved by Congress in September and another $1.22 billion of which was later approved in December.
“There was no request for a delay,” Carbo adds. “That would be absurd.”
Carbo says the state is expecting to receive confirmation today from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that its action plan for the $1.22 billion will be approved. However, he maintains that does not mean the money will be immediately available.
“We are anticipating that it will be approved today, but that does not mean the money is being sent out today,” he says, adding the governor’s office had spoken with Graves about an hour before the congressman sent out his news release about the money.
No official word from HUD had been made public as of this afternoon.
The disagreement between Graves and Edwards comes after the state scrapped a contract for management of the flood recovery program, Restore Louisiana, due to a controversy about the bid process. The state is now redoing the procurement process for the contract, which is valued somewhere between $250 million and $350 million.
—Steve Sanoski
