Levees are expected to hold the Mighty Mississippi at bay this spring, but South Louisiana still has a flood fight on her hands. Instead of mother nature, it's - as ever- the federal government that's causing a need to rally the troops and fly-ins. A group of about 20 local leaders are in Washington, D.C., today to press Congress about the 2012 changes to FEMA flood maps that will exponentially increase flood insurance for some citizens. Along with the numbers, the delegation got a little muscle in the Capitol from U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu.

President Barack Obama nominated Asst. US Attorney General Thomas Perez to be Secretary of Labor today. The former head of the Department of Justice's Civil Right's division is no stranger to Louisiana. While Obama may point to Perez's handling of the DOJ's investigation of the NOPD and (stalled) consent decree negotiations, U.S. Sen. David Vitter is remembering how U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder didn't write him back.

In a series of tweets responding to concerns over the coming "sequestering" deadline, Gov. Bobby Jindal has dismissed the fears, citing that the cuts from the federal budget is an insignificant amount.

Updated 4:30 p.m.

Washington name-calling is at a new high in the new year, thanks to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. In addition to twice being told, "Go fuck yourself" by House Speaker John Boehner, the Nevada Democrat attracted scorn from these parts when he sized up Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy on the Senate floor last week, and decided the mid-Atlantic's devastation was worse than the Gulf's.

Elton "Mark" McCabe spent months in prison in South Sudan, and politicians like David Vitter pushed the government there for his release. But after returning to the U.S. Monday, the Slidell man quickly found himself back in custody. The feds arrested McCabe Thursday, accusing him of taking kickbacks from subcontractors in exchange for work on reconstruction at the Kandahar Airfield in Kandahar, Afghanistan. 

Showing once again that he's well aware of the equal importance of perception and reality, David Vitter wrote a letter to BP today to urge the oil giant to make good on some of the post-Big Oozy promises they aired in the papers and on TV. In the letter, Louisiana's junior senator tells BP big shot Lamar McKay that the company shouldn't be hiring European contractors to do Gulf of Mexico work.

While Da Mayor and the gov'nuh have been out front everyday during Hurricane Isaac, our U.S. Senators have been a little less visible. But that doesn't mean they aren't with us. Seeing as how it's the main piece of federal jurisdiction, both Senators have been primarily focused on the levee system. Both Senators - David Vitter and Mary Landrieu -  will ride with Col. Ed Fleming of the Army Corps of Engineers as they tour the whole federal system from a helicopter tomorrow. Before that time, Vitter embedded, and Landrieu paid a visit to Tammany, and got political.

By now, we're used to Sen. David Vitter being at the center of controversy involving the opposite sex and social media. But this time, it involves both. After a textless Tweet he sent to a 20-year-old New Orleans woman was deleted (but preserved here), questions started to swirl, and in the meantime Gawker dug up a string of deleted Tweets from the woman, Daysha Scott, that seemed to suggest she had some dirt.

As President Barack Obama gets ready set to sign a federal highway bill that's being touted as a rare example of Beltway bipartisanship this afternoon, Louisiana isn't sure whether to cheer or jeer. On the highway part, we came out pretty well - getting an influx of $680 million. Same goes for federal flood insurance, which was extended for another five years. And of course there's the Restore Act, which ensures that 80 percent of BP's Clean Water violation fines come to the Gulf. Sounding pretty good so far. But, as ever, there's the little matter of health care.

Louisiana's two-headed delegation to the U.S. Senate once again showed today that bitterly disliking each other isn't any cause for being mean. The odd couple's notoriously stormy relationship seemed to be cooling off in recent weeks as the pair teamed up to author the BP money roadmap known as the RESTORE Act. Heck, they even put out a press release together. But this week's health care debate in the Supreme Court apparently touched off that little voice on Junior Senator's shoulder that says, "Go ahead, Vitty, just get her good!"