Landrieu Gives Key Legis Priorities For 112th Congress

WASHINGTON – United States Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., today announced her key legislative priorities for the 112

^th Congress. The bills Sen. Landrieu plans to introduce when the Senate reconvenes are highlighted by a measure that will expand broadband technology to rural areas of Louisiana. This will help small businesses use the Internet to bring in new customers and, in turn, create jobs.

“These bills I will introduce address several issues that are critical to Louisiana’s future,” Sen. Landrieu said. “They represent a robust plan to restore the Gulf Coast, get our coast back to work and create jobs, and better prepare us to deal with natural and manmade disasters. I am committed to use all the tools at my disposal during the 112^th Congress to get these bills through Congress and signed into law.”

In addition to the bills listed below, Sen. Landrieu remains committed to ensuring Louisiana gets the necessary federal funding to complete the I-49 North construction project. Over the years, Sen. Landrieu has directed funding to this project and ensured that in previous highway funding bills, the I-49 North project was granted priority status. In the 112th Congress, Sen. Landrieu will fight to make sure it retains that status in any highway funding bill that comes before the Senate. This project is critical to the continued growth and development of northwest Louisiana, alleviating traffic congestion and ensuring the safety of Louisiana drivers. Completing this critical artery will also create jobs for hardworking Louisiana families.

Sen. Landrieu also will continue her efforts, along with the rest of the Louisiana Congressional delegation to push the Department of Energy (DOE) to move forward on granting Next Autoworks (formerly V-Vehicle Company) a loan guarantee under the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing program. Earlier this month, Sen. Landrieu had an encouraging conversation with DOE Secretary Steven Chu.

Below are some of the key bills that highlight Sen. Landrieu’s legislative priorities for the 112^th Congress.

Technology

As Chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Sen. Landrieu understands how important it is for small businesses in Louisiana and across the nation to have access to all of the tools they need to expand their customer base. Successful small businesses result in more jobs, which are desperately needed in this current economy. To help small businesses and rural Louisianians get greater access to high-speed internet, Sen. Landrieu will introduce the following legislation:

Broadband for Rural Areas and Small Businesses

This legislation would enhance the Small Business Administration’s ability to effectively assist small businesses on broadband issues. In particular, the bill creates a Broadband and Emerging Technology Coordinator within the SBA to coordinate programs that assist small businesses in adopting, making innovations in, and using broadband and other emerging technologies. Next, it would improve the ability of SBA resource partners to promote small business broadband adoption. Lastly, the bill clarifies SBA’s ability to make loans for purchasing equipment for broadband or other emerging information technologies.

Coastal Restoration and Oil Spill

Sen. Landrieu has been a tireless advocate in the fight to protect Louisiana’s coastal communities. Through her leadership, the state finally secured its fair share of revenues from offshore oil and gas production, which are dedicated to protecting and conserving the coast. These funds will help to reduce coastal erosion, protect our coastal communities and commercial infrastructure, and ensure that America’s Energy Coast remains a vibrant and beautiful place for future generations.

However, due to the BP oil spill, there is much more work to be done to help restore Louisiana’s coast. To respond to this need, Sen. Landrieu will propose the following bills in the 112^th Congress:

Dedicated BP Penalties for Coastal Restoration and Protection

This bill would ensure that no less than 80% of the civil and criminal penalties charged to BP under the Clean Water Act will be returned to the Gulf Coast for long-term economic and environmental recovery.

Mutualization of Liability Cap for Offshore Oil and Gas Operators

The Landrieu Compromise would eliminate liability caps on oil companies, while facilitating a mutual insurance system to fairly spread the risk among offshore operators. This plan will preserve the ability of smaller independent operators to develop oil and gas offshore, while ensuring that taxpayers never have to pick up the tab for an oil spill.

Housing

Sen. Landrieu has fought since the 2005 hurricanes to secure necessary funding to rebuild quality housing for homeowners, renters, and other residents. She has worked with Federal, State, and local officials to rebuild neighborhoods and communities, especially those devastated by the hurricanes and the failure of federal levees in 2005. The following represents Sen. Landrieu’s top housing priority in the 112^th Congress:

Placed-in-Service Date Extension for the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit

Sen. Landrieu remains committed to extending the GO Zone Low-Income Housing Tax Credit placed-in-service date through 2012. Without this extension, nearly 5,000 Gulf Coast units would be likely not be completed and an estimated $1 billion of construction projects and related jobs would be in jeopardy.

In December, Sen. Landrieu was successful in receiving a commitment on the Senate floor from Senate Finance Committee Chairman, Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Sen. John Kyl, R-Ariz., the chief Republican negotiator of the tax deal, to include a two-year extension in new tax legislation at the earliest possible time in the 112th Congress.

Disaster Recovery

Sen. Landrieu led numerous battles to aid Louisiana's recovery and rebuilding efforts after the 2005 hurricanes. She has fought tirelessly for Louisianians as they move towards recovery from the largest disaster to have struck our nation through her Chairmanship of the Small Business Committee, Chairmanship of the Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery, as well as, on the floor of the Senate. She successfully fought for recovery funding for housing, schools and universities, agriculture, infrastructure and small businesses across the region. As we enter a new Congress, Sen. Landrieu will be spearheading the following efforts to rewrite federal disaster laws, which are unsuited to deal with larger disasters like Hurricane Katrina and largely ignore communities that host disaster evacuees:

The Disaster Recovery Act of 2011

The bill will provide improved mechanisms for a smarter recovery from natural and manmade disasters. The bill goes beyond improving federal programs to build local capacity, leverage nonprofit resources, and create a framework for a more cooperative, efficient, and cost-effective recovery process. It addresses both physical and human recovery, as well as systems management and personnel. The legislation also accounts for the unique needs of children and individuals with disabilities and streamlines certain procedures for catastrophic incidents.

Flood Insurance Reform

Sen. Landrieu will work to reform the National Flood Insurance Program when the Senate considers legislation to reauthorize it, by ensuring that working families can afford adequate insurance protection and restructuring the program to make it fiscally solvent. She will also focus on using better science to evaluate levee strength and protection capacity, improving technical assistance for local governments to evaluate proposed flood map revisions, authorizing independent arbitration of flood map disputes between communities and the federal government, and developing sensible reconstruction guidelines for buildings in coastal high-velocity zones (V-Zones).

Child Safety, Care, and Education Continuity Act

The bill would ensure that our nation has a framework in place to help children and families regain some normalcy in the event of a future catastrophic disaster. It provides tuition reimbursements to elementary and secondary schools that take in displaced students, eases financial aid regulations on students attending Institutions of Higher Education that are unable to operate after a disaster and provides mental health counseling for pre-K students through Head Start Agencies.

SBA Disaster Programs Reform

Sen. Landrieu remains committed to improving SBA’s ability to respond to disasters. Building off SBA Disaster Program improvements she secured in 2008, the bill will make key reforms to SBA’s business and home disaster loan programs. It will also ensure better coordination between SBA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture disaster programs after future disasters.

Foster Care and Adoption

Throughout her years of public service, Sen. Landrieu has been led by the vision that every child deserves a family to call their own. There is no such thing as an unwanted child, just unfound families. Through legislation and her work as a founding co-chair of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption and the new Senate Caucus on Foster Care, Sen. Landrieu has strived to promote responsible policies for the long-term care and support of America’s children and families. These include the following priorities for the 112^th Congress:

Reintroduction of the Foster Care Mentoring Act

This bill would direct the Secretary of HHS to award grants to states to support the mentorship programs for children in foster care.

Reintroduction of the Supporting Adoptive Families Act

This proposal would extend mental health counseling services to families adopting domestically and internationally.

Reintroduction of the Families for Orphans Act

The bill would establish the Office for Orphan Policy and Diplomacy within the Department of State to support the preservation and reunification of families and the provision of permanent parental care for orphans.

Rauthorization of the Promoting Safe and Stable Families Act

This program would provide grants to states, territories, and tribes for four broad categories of services to children and families: Community-based family support, family preservation, time-limited reunification, and adoption promotion and support.

Education

For more than 20 years, Sen. Landrieu has been on the front lines of Louisiana’s fight for education reform. These efforts have paid off by making Louisiana a national model for education reform. A big part of that effort is developing successful charter schools. As co-chair of the Senate Public Charter School Caucus, Sen. Landrieu has been an outspoken advocate for charter schools. As we begin the 112^th Congress, the following proposal is one of Sen. Landrieu’s key education policy initiatives:

Charter School Quality Act

The Charter School Quality Act would amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to raise the quality of public charter schools across the country. This legislation would authorize competitive grants to states, school districts, and nonprofit organizations to improve the practices of the organizations responsible for opening and closing charter schools. It would also enhance state educational data systems to ensure the collection of information unique to charter schools, such as whether or not a school is oversubscribed and therefore subject to an admissions lottery.

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