Vendredi

Vitter with Mayor Mitch (photo via Vitter's office)

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.

Republican David Vitter sent a missive this morning that says he was embedded with the Corps of Engineers throughout the Storm, attending the closing of the Great Wall out on Lake Borgne, and then spending the night at Corps headquarters while the storm passed over. Vitter reportedly slept on a cot during the overnight stay. After a visit to St. John the Baptist Parish this morning, Vitter also said he would join GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and Bobby Jindal as they paid a visit to response efforts in Lafitte this afternoon.

Meanwhile, Mary Landrieu appeared today to talk about the levees in the wake of flooding on the Northshore.

During a press conference with St. Tammany Parish officials, Landrieu said the flooding in Mandeville, Slidell and other Northshore spots made clear that the area is vulnerable to a major flood if a bigger hurricane were to come through. She mailgined the fact that the Army Corps of Engineers' entire annual constructon budget was $2 billion.

"We could use $1 billion of that in Lousiana alone," she said, and it still wouldn't complete all of the work that the state has identified. 

Landrieu said the solution to protecting both St. Tammany and St. John the Baptist Parish - which was also hit hard - was building a surge barrier to keep the Gulf of Mexico storm surge out of Lake Pontchartrain. Surge reached 12 feet in Isaac, only four feet below Katrina levels, she noted.

In a statement this afternoon following the press conference, Landrieu also let a little partisan politics show through the disaster. With GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney visiting Louisiana, she said she hopes he realizes the difference between the situation on the ground, and what would've happened under the Ryan budget advocated in the past by his running mate, Paul Ryan.

I hope as he witnesses recovery in action, he will reflect upon his party's approach to funding disaster response. Had the plan advocated by his running mate Congressman Paul Ryan and Congressman Eric Cantor prevailed, there would be no money readily available to provide assistance for this, or any other disaster,” Landrieu said in the statement. “Congress would have to debate and agree upon cuts to other priorities. My hope is that Governor Romney will leave Louisiana realizing that such an approach is overly bureaucratic, unworkable, and terribly unfair.”