Mitch Landrieu: “now I will speak about what I came to the floor to speak about. We have had a very difficult time in Louisiana and…”

“now I will speak about what I came to the floor to speak about. We have had a very difficult time in Louisiana and Mississippi and the gulf coast this year, in part because our resources are short because our country is involved in so many other things, and I can appreciate and understand the dilemmas. But we still have a great effort underway to rebuild Louisiana, Mississippi, and the gulf coast. So we have been moving steadily ahead in fits and starts because, of course, this was an unprecedented disaster. And while it really wasn't a natural disaster for Louisiana, it was a manmade disaster because our city went under water and the region, counties in Mississippi and parishes in Louisiana--for instance, one of our parishes, not New Orleans which we have heard a lot about, but St. Bernard Parish which sits right outside of New Orleans, 75,000 people live there, and every home was destroyed and every church was ruined and every business was destroyed. They were ruined not just because of the storms and the hurricanes which come and there is nothing much we can do to stop them, but because the levees broke which the Federal Government is supposed to maintain, and because of spending money in other places and not protecting people in their homes. So as my colleagues know, we had water 15 feet high that stood for up to 6 to 8 and sometimes 10 weeks in some places.…”