Russ Feingold: “I recently made a brief visit to New Orleans to see for myself where things stand now, not quite 11 months after…”

“I recently made a brief visit to New Orleans to see for myself where things stand now, not quite 11 months after Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast. Katrina, of course, was the first of two major hurricanes to ravage that area last year. I only had the chance to see a small part of the area hit by that first storm, but what I did see was striking. The news reports cannot fully convey the devastation or the enormity of the problems the region faces in trying to put things back in working order. One problem feeds into another. Businesses can't get back up and running without employees. Workers don't want to return without a safe place to live, without a school for their children, and without health care and other essential services upon which we all rely. Hospitals and other health providers face the same staffing shortages that businesses face. The neighborhood schools face challenges both in the physical infrastructure--providing a safe place in which kids can learn--and staffing shortages. All of these issues must be addressed. Housing is an overarching challenge. I saw neighborhood after neighborhood still empty and unlivable. The outside shell of some homes was still standing, but the inside was uninhabitable because of the flood of toxic liquid filth that soaked into those houses. I also saw lots where homes had stood but where now there was nothing but a slab of concrete.…”