Edwards Details Six New Proposals to Help Get New Orleans Back on its Feet
Press Release
Edwards Details Six New Proposals to Help Get New Orleans Back on its Feet
Builds on his existing agenda to help rebuild the Gulf Coast
Today, Senator John Edwards will visit New Orleans to participate in Senator Mary Landrieu's "Hope & Recovery" Summit, where he will announce six new proposals to strengthen recovery efforts in New Orleans and prevent another failure in federal response on the scale of what happened after Katrina and Rita hit. These proposals build on Edwards' existing plan to help the Gulf Coast rebuild.
"Our government's response to Hurricane Katrina has been a national shame," said Edwards. "But while our government continues to fail the people of New Orleans, the American people continue to take action to help rebuild. As president, I will make sure that our government does everything in its power to help New Orleans recover. We are not the country of the Superdome in New Orleans after Katrina. We can prove it by fulfilling our moral responsibility to get New Orleans back on its feet."
Edwards has visited New Orleans several times to help with rebuilding efforts. He announced his candidacy for president in New Orleans in December 2006. In the spring of 2006, he took 700 college students to the area to help rebuild.
Edwards' new proposals address the health care crisis and spur economic growth in the health care sector, make the streets safe with a surge of federal resources, bring back residents by fully funding the Road Home program and addressing rental housing needs, hold government and private contractors accountable for waste, fraud and abuse, put someone in charge of federal recovery and rebuilding efforts and with "Brownie's Law," make sure political appointees at agencies like FEMA are actually qualified for the jobs to which they are appointed.
As president, Edwards will help New Orleans get back on his feet by:
* Addressing the nursing shortage and supporting the proposed biomedical corridor: Edwards will invest in nursing school capacity, offer up to full scholarships for nurses who commit to working in New Orleans and improve working conditions to keep nurses from leaving and to bring more back. Expanding nursing education programs will ensure access to health care while helping fuel development of the proposed biomedical corridor.
* Providing new resources to make the city's streets safe: Edwards will provide funding federal funding for 500 new officers, and help the local law enforcement recruit returning skilled Iraqi veterans. Edwards will pay for the new law enforcement initiatives with an aggressive prosecution initiative to recover money from private contractors that used crony connections to secure Katrina/Rita recovery contracts and then ripped off taxpayers.
* Fully funding the "Road Home": Edwards is calling on Congress and the President to keep their promises and help make up the $3 billion difference to people of the Gulf to "do what it takes" to help rebuild the region by bringing back residents while creating good renovation and home repair jobs.
* Putting someone in charge: Edwards will appoint a Chief Recovery Officer to channel presidential leadership, ensure accountability, cut red tape and deliver results for the people of the Gulf Coast.
* Appointing a Special Gulf Coast Inspector General: Edwards will appoint a Special Inspector General with subpoena power to offer the public a full accounting of recovery spending at every level of government and investigate irresponsible contractors, referring fraud for aggressive prosecution by the Justice Department.
* Passing "Brownie's Law," so agencies like FEMA get the job done: Edwards will enact a new requirement - "Brownie's Law" - ensuring that senior political appointees actually are qualified to perform the job to which they are appointed. Brownie's Law will require that heads of executive agencies and other senior officials have demonstrated qualifications in the field related to their job.
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