Hurricane Recovery and Coastal Restoration
September 20, 2012
The U.S. House today passed H.R. 2903 a bill reauthorizing FEMA for two years. Included in the bill were three key provisions authored by Congressman Steve Scalise that speed up recovery times after disasters, and update the factors considered to determine the amount of individual assistance.
July 23, 2012
Our state's economy, culture and heritage are deeply tied to our unique coast and the Mississippi River, but decades of severe erosion have left our coast tattered. This erosion has also removed the barrier that used to exist to protect us against violent storms in the Gulf.
June 28, 2012
Congressman Steve Scalise today released the following statement after the RESTORE Act was included in the final transportation conference committee package, which is expected to pass both the House and Senate this week and be signed into law by the President.
June 1, 2012
Congressman Steve Scalise and Congressman Cedric Richmond today successfully passed an amendment to ensure critical funding for coastal restoration projects in Louisiana.
May 31, 2012
Just in the nick of time, the House Wednesday night approved a 60-day extension of the National Flood Insurance Program. The approval came by voice vote.
May 31, 2012
This time there were no blue umbrellas, no Capitol rallies and no visits with congressional leaders. Women of the Storm, a group formed after Hurricane Katrina to advocate for post-storm assistance from the federal government, had a "virtual" lobbying effort Wednesday: using cell phones, social networks and email to reach the congressional members deciding whether to include the Restore Act in a pending transportation bill.
May 31, 2012
U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Metairie, is calling on state lawmakers to abandon a proposal that could allow the Legislature to redirect fines from the Deepwater Horizon disaster to projects unrelated to coastal restoration.
April 19, 2012
A bill that could send billions of dollars to the Gulf Coast for restoration after the Gulf oil spill passed the U.S. House Wednesday. The Restore Act, which would dedicate 80 percent of the BP Clean Water Act fines to the Gulf, passed as part of a transportation extension bill with a 293-127 vote.
April 18, 2012
The U.S. House of Representatives took another major step forward today in the fight to dedicate 80% of BP fines to the Gulf Coast region as it passed a transportation bill that included the Scalise RESTORE Act amendment.
February 17, 2012
The House gave voice vote approval Thursday to an amendment that would dedicate 80 percent of Clean Water Act fines from the 2010 BP oil spill to a new Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund. The vote was a key victory for supporters of using the fine money to finance environmental restoration in the five Gulf states, but only a first step. The amendment still needs Senate approval and enactment of separate legislation, called the RESTORE Act, to designate a formula for distributing the money, which could be in the billions of dollars.