Mitch Landrieu: “almost a year ago, we passed a Homeland Security Appropriations bill. Included in that very large piece of legislation…”

“almost a year ago, we passed a Homeland Security Appropriations bill. Included in that very large piece of legislation was a small provision that probably went beneath most people's notice. Section 426 of that bill allows Federal funding to provide case management services after a disaster. That has been a tragically absent component to our circumstances in Louisiana. Educated people struggle to find their way through the Byzantine morass that is FEMA individual assistance program, the Small Business Administration's loan program, the Road Home program and their own insurance company's requirements. Think of how all of this seems to working people who are encountering Federal bureaucracy for the first time. So, we need case management badly. Unfortunately, Section 426 fails the people of my State in two important ways. First, and this predates the change in Congressional leadership, it allows for case management services--but only for future disasters. The legislation that I am introducing today makes Section 426 retroactive to 2005 and will now cover Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, as well as succeeding disasters. Two years after the disaster, we only distributed half of the Road Home grants. It is obvious that we will need case management services for years to come in Louisiana. It is only common sense to direct these resources to the Gulf Coast today, where they are direly needed.”