Sen. Kennedy Supports Sending Disaster Aid to Louisiana Without Raising Debt Limit, Democrats Block

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 -- Sen. John Kennedy, R-Louisiana, issued the following news release:

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) today spoke on the Senate floor in support of a short-term funding bill that would send disaster aid to Louisiana without raising the debt limit. Senate Republicans attempted to pass the bill this afternoon, but Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) blocked the move.

The resolution Kennedy supported today would provide disaster relief funding to Louisiana and extend the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to December 3, 2021.

Kennedy explained the need for disaster aid and criticized the political gamesmanship that has led Democrats to tether that aid to lifting the debt limit.

"If you add up all of the damages [from the last year of storms to hit Louisiana], it's about $150 billion in 13 months. Now, other states were impacted by these storms, but Louisiana took it full in the face. This was as brutal a blow as nature has inflicted on an American state in modern history. We will be coughing up bones for years, and this legislation is going to help us recover," said Kennedy.

"This legislation does every single thing that my colleagues Sen. Cassidy and Sen. McConnell talked about, that my Democratic friends want to do--everything: keeps the government open, maintains flood insurance, gives disaster relief, not just to Louisiana, but to my friends in the northeast part of our country, to my friends on the west coast. It does help my state--southwest, southeast, north Louisiana--but we're not the only ones. Sen. McConnell's legislation does everything except one thing--one thing: increasing the debt ceiling that Sen. Schumer can do in a matter of days, on his own. Why are we fighting over this? You know, nature abhors a moron. It is moronic for us to be having this fight when it can be so easily solved. Everything in Sen. McConnell's legislation can easily pass this body with 70 votes, and we know it. And then Sen. Schumer can come right behind by simply amending the budget resolution, and our problems are solved. Nature abhors a moron. Let's don't be moronic," Kennedy concluded.

Video of Kennedy's comments is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5ZRSSC8t_Q