Mitch Landrieu: “We have all learned many things since this disaster happened, and one of the things we have learned, I guess rather…”

“We have all learned many things since this disaster happened, and one of the things we have learned, I guess rather painfully, is that it is not only the geographic area that is struck by the high wind, the high waters or the flood waters that is impacted by a catastrophic disaster, but it is also the perimeter of the area, the towns that absorb people fleeing to higher ground and trying to settle where they can find work and schools for their children, and businesses that might not have been directly impacted but have lost half or 75 percent of their customer base. Right now, without Senator Kerry's bill, there is virtually no authorization on the Federal books to allow loans to be made to these kinds of businesses. So because we don't have that authorization, we are, right now, basically making the disaster worse. I hope people can understand this. We, by our inaction, by our hardheadedness--and it is not me, although I can be hardheaded but not on this issue--because of some leadership decision on the Republican side, we are literally, right now, making this matter worse.”