Mitch Landrieu: “I begin by thanking majority leader Harry Reid for his extraordinary work in helping to negotiate the full Katrina-Rita…”

“I begin by thanking majority leader Harry Reid for his extraordinary work in helping to negotiate the full Katrina-Rita package that many of us worked on to try to accelerate and jump-start the recovery that is underway slowly, solidly in some places, and not so solidly in others along the entire gulf coast of this Nation, America's energy coast. Louisiana sits in the middle of this great coastline and was hit not by one but by two monstrous storms 18 months ago. But, as my colleagues have heard me say many times, it wasn't just Katrina and Rita that did so much damage, it was the collapse of a Federal levee system that should have held but didn't hold. In Louisiana alone, 200,000 homes were totally destroyed. In Mississippi, it was over 65,000 homes because of the surge that came out of the gulf. It is hard for people to comprehend what that means. It is still difficult for those of us who live there to get a handle on the scope of the damage and devastation. We are grateful for the generosity of this Nation.”