Gov. John Bel Edwards and Louisiana’s congressional delegation sent letters to President Barack Obama today asking for an additional $800 million for the state’s flood recovery and making the case for both the March and August floods to count as one disaster.
The USA Today Network of Louisiana reports that Edwards’ letter increased his request from $2 billion in Community Development Block Grants to $2.8 billion. The governor’s letter says he conferred with the Obama administration to reach the new total.
The delegation’s letter emphasized that it’s crucial for Louisiana’s supplemental disaster funding to be included in the appropriations bill Congress is considering to fund the federal government.
“To facilitate and expedite consideration of a Louisiana supplemental spending package, we request you to make a supplemental appropriations request to Congress,” the delegation’s letter says.
The requests precedes a second trip to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, where Edwards will meet with the state’s delegation and to continue to lobby for more federal help.
Edwards spokesman Richard Carbo says the governor and delegation met via conference call Sunday night to hash out and coordinate their requests.
Obama has already agreed to increase the federal match for response and recovery for the August flood from 75% to 90%, but he has not yet included the March flood at the maximum federal match.
