Mitch Landrieu: “I ask the leader, if I could, please, I understand, I want the leader to know, we have passed 21 pieces of legislation.…”

“I ask the leader, if I could, please, I understand, I want the leader to know, we have passed 21 pieces of legislation. I take him at his word. It has been very hard to follow as these things have moved so quickly, in some cases, and not so quickly in others. But I want to make a point and ask the leader that. Because we pass legislation does not necessarily mean it has been effective. Sometimes Congress has a way of passing legislation, but that is not any guarantee it is actually working. As the Senator from Tennessee knows, the members of the Louisiana delegation, joined at times by members of the Mississippi delegation, have consistently said that money given to FEMA is not making its way to the hands of people in businesses. As the leader knows, the housing money has been very difficult for people to get. Shelter has been very difficult to get, housing has been very difficult to get. Many of our businesses that have applied for loans that are authorized have not yet received a response from FEMA or the Small Business Administration. For the record, I say it is not the quantity of legislation but the quality of legislation, and that is why this supplemental Senator Cochran has been crafting is so important. We think this may be the first major piece of legislation that actually gets money into the hands of people who can do something with it other than having it sit in bank accounts while people are suffering and trying to get their lives back together.…”