The $1 million provided for Louisiana ecosystem restoration in the House water and energy bill adopted Friday is less than the $35.8 million sought by the Obama administration, but it's still a significant win for this state.
U.S. Reps. Cedric Richmond and Steve Scalise worked together on the amendment that provides the funding. It passed by a 271-148 vote Friday, and that was an achievement since House leadership had been determined to reject any new construction starts by the Army Corps of Engineers.
Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen of New Jersey, who chairs the House Water and Energy Appropriations Subcommittee, repeated that opposition, saying that the federal government needs to reap benefits from previous spending before starting new projects, "as important as they are.''
But Reps. Scalise and Richmond drove home how critical Louisiana's coastal needs are. Rep. Scalise held up a football, saying he wanted it to represent the fact that Louisiana loses an entire football field of land every hour.
"If one block of New York City disappeared every hour, the nation would be outraged,'' Rep. Richmond said.
Their advocacy means that the corps could have money to begin coastal restoration. But even more important, the allocation will finally remove this work from the "new start'' category. That's critical because as long as the ecosystem restoration is considered a new project, it will continue to be barred by opposition to new spending.
It took a powerful bipartisan effort on the part of Rep. Scalise, a Republican, and Rep. Richmond, a Democrat, to get this amendment passed.
The legislation now heads to the Senate, and it will be up to Sens. Mary Landrieu and David Vitter to push for this small but critical allocation.