Biden returns to SW La. (1/15)

Posted January 14, 2010 at 11:02 pm
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By VANESSA C. DEGGINS
AMERICAN PRESS

Vice President Joseph Biden will be in New Orleans and Grand Lake today, discussing how the administration is helping with recovery and rebuilding efforts along the Gulf Coast.

A schedule released by the White House says his day will start at about 11 a.m. in New Orleans with a visit to Delgado Community College’s City Park campus.

After touring the school, he will be joined by Gov. Bobby Jindal, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu at the St. Bernard Recreation Center.

They will discuss Recovery Act investments and hear updates on the area’s hurricane recovery.

Biden, his wife, Jill, and Landrieu will continue on to Grand Lake at about 3 p.m.

They will meet with Cameron Parish officials to get updates on hurricane recovery in the area and will speak at the Grand Lake Elderly Apartments.

Landrieu brought Biden — then a U.S. senator from Delaware — to south Louisiana in early 2006 to see the devastation caused by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. He was the only non-Louisiana senator to view Southwest Louisiana.

Biden acknowledged that most politicians focused on New Orleans, and he pledged to help Landrieu lobby for funding to rebuild Cameron, saying the area reminded him of Delaware Bay, which also supports the fishing and oil industries.

He promised to return, and has kept tabs on the area. As Hurricane Gustav made its way toward Louisiana in September 2008, Biden, then a vice presidential candidate, called Lake Charles Mayor Randy Roach on his cell phone.

“He said he was praying for our safety and wanted us to know we were on his mind,” Roach said at the time. “And it wasn’t an assistant — it was him.”

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