Sen. Cassidy Asks Trump, FEMA to Cover 100% of Hurricane Laura Damages

WASHINGTON, Sept. 25 -- Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, issued the following news release:

U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) wrote to President Donald Trump and an administrator with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) asking that they waive the local cost-share percentage (25 percent) and cover 100 percent of the costs associated with damage from Hurricane Laura.

Hurricane Laura made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 150 miles per hour, making it the strongest to hit Louisiana in more than 150 years. It is also the first hurricane in memory that maintained hurricane strength as it travelled through Louisiana's northern parishes.

"While the prompt federal assistance and relief efforts by FEMA and other federal agencies to assess the damages and needs of our Louisiana citizens is commendable, there is no doubt that much more needs to be done before there is anything resembling a return to normalcy in the hardest-hit communities impacted by Hurricane Laura," Dr. Cassidy wrote. "A stronger federal commitment to help people and communities recover from this cataclysmic hurricane is therefore required..."