Members of the panel charged with creating a spending plan for federal flood recovery funding defended their work and Gov. John Bel Edwards today following criticism by U.S. Sen.-elect John Kennedy and U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, the USA Today Network of Louisiana reports.
“Why does (Kennedy) have to take such a partisan approach to such a tragedy?” says Michael Olivier, chief executive for the Committee of 100 and a member of the Restore Louisiana Task Force.
“I was there (during) Hurricane Katrina,” says Olivier, who was then former Gov. Kathleen Blanco’s economic development secretary. “I was in the thick of things, and the pace of recovery for these flooding disasters is moving faster. The governor and the task force are moving as fast as we can and as fast as Washington will allow us.”
The task force met in West Monroe today, hearing testimony from local government officials and victims, although members could take no official action because there wasn’t a quorum.
Louisiana has secured about $1.6 billion in federal recovery funding so far, about $1 billion less than President Barack Obama requested and less than half of the $4 billion Edwards has requested.
Last week, Kennedy said the administration hasn’t provided an adequate road map for how the federal funding will be spent. On Monday, Graves also complained about the pace of getting the funding into victims’ hands and about the overhead costs, about 30% for the first $438 million allocated.
Kennedy and Graves are Republicans. Many, though not all, members of the task force are Democrats. The task force was created by Edwards, who also appointed its members.
