Transcript
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Hi, this is Laurie Johnson with Hancock Whitney Bank and you're listening to local leaders
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the podcast.
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Visit localleadersthepodcast.com for previous episodes or for information on appearing
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on the show.
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Let's get into it folks, give you the rain breakdown, what we're looking at, what we're
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expecting and when the relief will come.
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Rounds of rain and showers and thunderstorms, the possibility of an additional five to
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eight inches of rain thrust.
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Coming in the work Friday morning, thinking you're going to have a normal day and not
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leaving until sometime the next week, that was something I wasn't imagining.
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I don't think we all understood how serious it was going to be.
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He really did not have a clear picture of how detrimental things were outside.
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It's just like one hard thunderstorm after another and it just never stopped.
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People's house is flooding, they will loosen everything, so it's just like this stuff
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and then you have to dump someone there.
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I will lay down on the ground.
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Hey, everyone and welcome back to another edition of Local Leaders Thepodcast.
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And honestly, I feel like no introduction is even necessary for this guy sitting across
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from me.
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If you're from these parts, you probably already recognize him.
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But I do want to welcome him for his first appearance on Local Leaders Thepodcast.
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He is the congressman for Louisiana's sixth district and he is Garrett Graves.
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So first welcome, sir, to Local Leaders.
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Hey, thank you very much.
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I appreciate the opportunity to join you today.
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Well, I am excited to have you on and I've been doing research on you and I'm like, I may
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know him better than he knows him.
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I don't know.
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We're going to find out.
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And we probably need to start out with telling people what pair of shoes you cover.
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I know it's about 800,000 people roughly.
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It is, yeah, just under.
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So we represent it's a dozen parishes and it's from North of Baton Rouge, so towns like
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Zachary and Baker have been central.
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But it comes all the way through East and West Baton Rouge.
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It comes down to Iberville, Livingston, Ascension.
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It goes down the river, just kind of follows river.
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So Ascension Assumption, St. Charles, LaFouche, Terrebonne, St.
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Mary Parish, so just all the way down.
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So you got East and West from the top and East and West Baton Rouge, and Iberville all
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the way down and then ending down in Patterson and St. Mary Parish.
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Wow.
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That's a lot to keep up with.
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It is.
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But it is, you know, I got to tell you, it is such a great part of the state.
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It is.
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Some of the, you know, of course, Baton Rouge is awesome and Livingston Parish, you know,
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the East and West sides so different.
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But really cool.
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And then you get down in the Bay of Regions, I mean, just a whole other group of people.
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So really enjoy the opportunity to represent the area.
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Absolutely.
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And let's start kind of at the beginning of your career in Congress.
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And it's March of 2014.
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You announced that you're going to run for the sixth congressional district.
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I believe at the time your, the incumbent was Bill Cassidy and he was waiting to the
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Senate.
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That's right.
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So I was working for the state of Louisiana.
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I'd got appointed to rebuild the levees after Hurricane Katrina restored the coastal wetlands
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about three years, two and a half years after the hurricane.
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So I was doing that and it looked born and raised in the capital region.
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I had done work in all of the river parishes, you know, that we represent St. John and St.
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Charles assumption for years.
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And I knew everyone down in the Bay region as well, just from work that I'd done on the coastal
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issues on the levees.
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And so had people come up to me like, look, Cassidy is going to run for Senate.
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You want to run for seat.
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I mean, nobody has that connectivity from the capital region, the river region, the Bay
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region like you do.
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And I just, I didn't have any interest at all.
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I mean, it was, it was them.
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And I didn't even think about it for a second.
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The best analogy is a set of some I came up to and said, you should be an embalmer.
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You know, you know what?
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I, I, I, I, I, you know, I mean, like, but I just, I didn't even entertain it.
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And for nine months, I had just different groups of people that came up and urged me to
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do it.
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And I never said anything to my wife about it just because I'd never seriously thought about
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it.
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But one night she and I were out and a group of people came to us and started making the pitch
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again.
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And I'm like, look, you know, thanks, guys, but, but not interested.
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And next morning we wake up and she turns over and she says, you know what, you need to run.
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My wife who had a teacher for decades hates politics.
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He hates hate politics.
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And I just looked at it and I'm like, okay, who are you?
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And she just said, you know what?
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Hear me out.
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She said, you know what?
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She just, you know what?
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Hear me out.
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She said, you know, listen to what they said.
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I thought about it.
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She said, you know, the issues in this region, you know, the people in the region.
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And you know how to get things done.
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And she said, you know what?
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I just, I don't like politics, but I think you're the person to do it.
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And that was the first time that I ever let myself think about it and took about two or
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three months and ultimately jumped in and it was surreal.
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I can only imagine and you end up winning that race in a runoff against another Louisiana
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political individual people may have heard of named Edwin Edwards.
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Yes.
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How was that?
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It was surreal.
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I mean, he was governor when we were kids, right?
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Yes.
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And so he was a myth or a legend then.
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Yeah.
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And so, you know, at one point, I think we had up to 17 people in the race.
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I mean, everybody in their brother were in.
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So huge, huge group of people, but then we got to the runoff with Edwin Edwards and
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I and I got so scared.
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I remember we came up to the debate.
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We were going to have a debate and we had it right at force Grove here in denim and I sat
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out in the parking lot.
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And I was afraid to go in because I just, my nerves, I was so scared.
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I mean, again, myth or a legend, we were kids and it's just going to be the two of us.
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And finally, campaign managers like, all right, it started three minutes ago.
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No one else is going to debate him than you.
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So you got to, but it was, it was surreal and ended up, ended up winning.
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Yeah.
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Yeah, really in winning, you know, 62 and some change per cent.
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So definitely a vast majority fast forward to today, your fifth consecutive term in Congress.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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It, it, it, it's certainly flown by.
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Yeah.
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I thought I'd, I'd do this for, for this period of time, but you know, it's one of those
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things.
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I think when you, when you feel like you can contribute more, when you feel like you still
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got some, some oomplaffed and, and be able to get some things done, looking at seniority
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and does it make sense to stay or does it make sense to let somebody else come in?
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But look at this point in January of next year, if we play our cards right, January 2025,
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I can be chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
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Global jurisdiction over roads, bridges, traffic, ports, waterways, transit, airports, core
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engineers, which of course is co meet project and flood control, hurricane protection, coastal
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restoration, full jurisdiction over FEMA disasters.
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You know, I mean, so you look at that and you're like, gosh, I feel like leaving would be
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a disservice to the people that we represent because our ability to force change and reform
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in, in organizations like the core of engineers and FEMA alone, I think could just be life-changing
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in a community like this.
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A friend that we share named McEw David, this is a story involving him.
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So I hope you don't get mad that I'm sharing it and he shouldn't.
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But me and McEw were sitting around talking one day and this was several years ago and
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we're talking about term limits.
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And I was kind of one of them people, I was always back and forth.
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I'm like, yeah, we need him.
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No, we don't.
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Yeah, we need him.
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And he said, Jim, I'm going to tell you, you know, my thought on that.
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And he said, if you have term limits, you'll lose like a grave just based off of term
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limits.
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And I said, you're right, screw your term limits.
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We don't want term limits.
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No more.
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Yeah, because, you know, and we're going to get into the impact that not only you've had
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on the Livingston Parish community, but on me personally tested, not even a good enough
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word to describe what happened a year and a half after you were in office.
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Of course, we're talking about 2016, right?
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Yeah, it was, I mean, that was certainly some baptism by far.
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We had somewhere around 60 to 70% of the people that we represented were dealing with probably
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the worst flood event, worst disaster they'd ever experienced.
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And driving through miles and miles of communities watching and seeing everything people owned,
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family heirlooms, scrapbooks, picture albums, just out there on the curb destroyed.
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And all the people you can see it in their face, I mean, just, just completely deflated.
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That was a really, really challenging time for this community.
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It really was.
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And for those that may still not be familiar and you know, I do have listeners in other areas,
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it was seven trillion gallons of water, 31 inches of rain in just a couple of days, Val.
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In my effect, we're, we're recording right now completely under water.
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I want to spend a little time on this because I feel it's an important aspect of not only
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who you are, but your leadership ability.
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And that's, I want to share this quick personal story.
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And like some of the others, I've flooded, you know, with a million other people at same
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like at the time, my girls were 11, twin girls, my son was 13.
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And when the rain stopped, we had lost every single thing we owned, including our vehicles.
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With the exception of clothes we had on, we had nothing, not even food.
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And we were just one of thousands.
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My father-in-law was bed-redden, had Alzheimer's.
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He was eventually airlifted off of highway 16 in South Range about three days after, after
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we were out there in the middle of the way with thousands of other people.
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Now I'm 41 at this time, Congressman, the man of the house, right?
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I never even showed a henna stress to my family or anybody around me, but inside I felt
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it.
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And when the dust settled and we got to gutting our home, we were blessed enough to purchase
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a camper from someone, my wife name.
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I remember it was yesterday.
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I walked into that camper, hard day, hot, you're gutting.
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And this comes on the TV, this commercial spot from you.
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And if you'll allow me, I'd like to just read what you said in it because it had a major
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effect on me.
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And the title of that commercial spot was Unbroken and it said, "Historical flooding shook
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our spirit.
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Devastated our homes, our businesses, and put tears in our eyes."
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But it also brought us closer together.
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Neighbors helping neighbors like the Cajun Navy, our law enforcement, firefighters, teachers,
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our churches and countless others, many with flooded homes themselves, but working around
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the clock to help entire communities banding together because in Louisiana, there are no
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strangers when one of us is in need.
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We're proven every day that our resilience and passion will be the key to our recovery.
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I'm Congressman Graves.
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I know that you're tired and worried, but I've seen your determination and hard work and
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know that standing shoulder to shoulder, we will rebuild.
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We're telling our story to our nation's leaders in Washington and every day working to get
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the resources needed to recover.
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No stone will be left unturned to fix the problems and make sure this never happens
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again.
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We will recover because our spirit is unbroken.
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That's what I needed to hear right then at that time because it was tough as you know,
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as you saw.
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Then I saw you in front of Congress and it was a oversight committee meeting with FEMA
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officials on their lack of response early on and you had the mayor's, your laundry was
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there and the mayor Walker, the mayor's central and you stood up and for seven minutes, you,
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what we would say in the South, kind of told them about themselves and it was amazing.
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So we're going to insert that clip real quick.
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I think everybody needs to hear this because Congressman Graves, I think it's important for
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people to remember how tough that was on all of us and who was there for us.
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Chairman, I want to thank you for hosting this hearing.
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Congressman Duckworth, you as well.
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Thank you, Chairman Chafas.
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I appreciate you all bringing attention to this issue.
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Look, you're aware of the statistics.
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The last time I talked to FEMA, this flood event has received one half national media attention
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that the South Carolina floods received and it, well, it's never a good idea, I think to
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compare disasters because there's such personal tragedy in them.
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It is amazing that there has been such a lack of urgency and knowledge and understanding
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of what's happened.
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This is a one thousand year flood event, a one thousand year flood event.
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This is something that I'm going to rip a line from Mayor Shelton.
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This event could happen in any city.
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And I understand that folks say, you know what, it's not in my state, I don't care.
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It's not affecting my constituents.
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It does because what happens here, the president, allowing laxatives, allowative, allowing
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lack of priority has a profound effect on what happens to our constituents, but when
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you have a disaster, whether it's an earthquake, an avalanche, a volcano, a flood, a hurricane,
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no matter what it is, a terrorist attack.
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It's going to have a profound effect because if you let things slide, if you let folks
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take a laxie, days go approach here, it's going to be the same thing in your state.
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You know, try to communicate with other members of Congress and compare this disaster.
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Chairman Chafes just talked about the fact that it was 31 inches of rain and comparing it
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to other places.
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The national American rainfall, the average rainfall for this country is less than that
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and we got it in 36 hours.
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Put that in perspective, 7 trillion gallons of water, 7 trillion.
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The reality is this, the Stafford Act is entirely insufficient to respond to this disaster.
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It is entirely insufficient.
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You can play tens of thousands of times over where people in South Louisiana, or upside
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down in their mortgage, their jobs are underwater literally.
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Their cars have flooded out, they've lost their clothes, they have nothing.
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And we have got to increase the urgency of the response here.
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You know, this has been an amazing community watching what's happened in South Louisiana.
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Everybody at home talks about the cage and navy.
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We didn't sit around and wait for people to come rescue us.
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We got together and rescued our own people.
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We did it.
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People trashing their boats, putting their lives on the line and their safety at risk to
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go rescue one another.
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We had the cage and shelter set up where people opened up their homes, businesses, churches
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and everything.
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To shelter people, cage and chefs popped out pulling their barbecue grills out, cooking
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for tens of thousands of people in the cage and army got together.
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In the cage and army did an amazing job going through and stripping and gutting tens of thousands
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of homes in South Louisiana.
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Let me be clear.
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This wasn't because anybody directed them to do it.
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It wasn't because they were paid to do it.
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They did it because that's what our community is about.
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But now we're in this position where the volunteerism, the generosity, the selflessness, it
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can't get us any further.
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Now we're to the point where we actually need help.
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The housing unit progress is absolutely unacceptable.
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The fact that NOAA can come out in two weeks and say that this is attributable to climate
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change, fascinating to me.
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I couldn't even imagine that scientific calculation.
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This is attributable to climate change, but they can't tell John Doe on whether he's going
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to get a house or not, whether he's going to have a place to live, still living in their
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moldy home, still living in a tent, still living in a car.
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It is amazing what can happen when you prioritize things.
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You have a political agenda you can make something happen.
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And talking about urgency again, in two weeks NOAA can come out and do complex calculations
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to determine this is a result of climate change.
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Yet in 30 years, the United States Army Corps of Engineers can't deliver the Komei Diversion
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Project that was authorized by this Congress in 1986.
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I don't know how many times we're going to continue this stupidity of spending billions
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of dollars after a storm instead of millions before making our communities more resilient.
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It is absolutely absurd and this has a profound impact on the individual lives of many, many
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folks in South Louisiana.
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The parish that two of these mayors here represent Livingston Paras.
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Initial estimates are that 86% of the homes in 91% of the businesses were flooded.
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Think about that for just a minute.
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86% of the homes in 91% of the businesses.
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It is devastated communities.
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It is absolutely devastated them.
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It's crippled them.
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Mr. Robinson, I appreciate you being here and we've worked together for a long time.
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And again, I really do appreciate you being here.
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This is projected to be the fourth most costly flood event in the United States history.
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I'm really scratching my head as to why Mr. Fuget is not here today.
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I don't understand that.
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I don't understand why he is not here.
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This is a huge event.
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Stafford Act as I said before.
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We're blowing the side boards off of Stafford Act.
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The White House needs to send an emergency supplemental request, including the unmet needs
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package of CDBG and other things to help address this, to help us recover.
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We need to have a more robust flood protection projects funded like Comit, Ameet, Parish
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flood control projects and others to help lower the base flood elevation in this region.
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These things need to happen right now.
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I'll let me yield back.
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Mr. Chairman, very quickly note that we're joined by a number of folks that have been down
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there in the trenches through this disaster.
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In addition to this theme panel, the Governor and the Mayor's Webber Lieutenant Governor,
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Billy Nungesser.
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We have our Commissioner of Agriculture Mike Strain, State Senator Chairman of the Homeland
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Security Committee, Boate White, a number of other leaders from the state of Louisiana
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and folks that have been in the trenches and tireless in their efforts to help recover.
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Looking forward to working with my friend, Congressman Richmond, over there on a full recovery
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package.
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Thank you, you're back.
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Eight years.
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I've been waiting to tell you thank you for doing that.
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I've told Mayor George Landry, 100 times, and he laughs every time.
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But thank you, because not only to me, but to so many people, we would not have made it,
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not have had it not been for you.
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This town would not have survived.
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That's just the sheer facts of it.
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Look, I appreciate it.
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And that's my job, right?
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That's my job.
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That's what I'm supposed to do, too.
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I want to put a little bit of perspective for folks that maybe aren't from here and help
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folks understand the background there and which all that happened.
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You remember just weeks before the 2016 flood, we actually had the police, where we had
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officers.
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Of course, the shooting was in Badruse, we had officers who were from denim, from this community
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that didn't make it.
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And that event ripped the community apart and then started bringing people together, but
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you could tell.
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I mean, folks were really on edge and it was a really weird time.
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Then we had the 2016 flood.
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And the KJNavy, you know, sort of existed from Katrina, as you recall, but KJNavy on steroids
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was created in the 2016 flood.
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This was not a hurricane.
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It was not an announced storm.
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You didn't have CNN and Fox and everybody else with the little logos going about hurricane,
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whatever storm, whatever.
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This thing was just boom.
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It was an afternoon.
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It was a night.
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And as you indicated, the extraordinary volume of water, but also by some measure, this was
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a 1,000 year storm.
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And so you had people whose homes were flooded that were still out there and boats collecting
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others and rescuing and everything else.
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It was awesome to watch people come together.
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Now, when you have a hurricane or other events that are getting the national news or on the
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front page of the paper, it's easier to get assistance from Washington.
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In this event, no one knew this had happened, no one.
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And so we're sitting here trying to advocate and educate and Congress.
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And everybody's like, what storm?
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What are you talking about?
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And so we finally got a plane.
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We flew members of Congress down here.
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We said, we are going to make you see this and we brought them down here.
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And that is where the game changed.
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These people were with us flying over miles and miles driving through miles and miles and
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they went back and they were like, no, no, no, this is serious stuff.
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And so then our advocates grew and we were able to start getting assistance and start
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getting recovery dollars and everything else.
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But let me say it again, the community is what was amazing.
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The way that people came together, the way that, as I said in the commercial, in the video,
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which by the way, we were out gutting a home.
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The crew came over and said, hey, we want to cut a commercial.
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And I'm like, man, I've got, you know, wood in my hair and--
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>> She rocked her.
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>> So can wet and what it is like, you know what?
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Let's just do it.
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And so we just kind of just did it.
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But look, the community is what was awesome.
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You can secure dollars, you can get programs, you can federal agencies.
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But if you don't have the community like that, it's not going to work.
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And the community was absolutely amazing.
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Complete strangers going in as you know, mucking and gutting other people's homes.
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It was just phenomenal.
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And these people would sit there just completely looking helpless and hopeless.
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And then this group of folks would come walking up and I mean, just lifting spirits and
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awesome watching the community.
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>> It really was.
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And I'll just leave that thought with this.
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There's a long story to it.
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But three days later, we managed to get out and get-- we hit the interstate and didn't
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stop till slide L, you know?
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And I remember us trying to get down, Jubin, a lady stopped me and she said, you can't go
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down Jubin in that.
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You know, I was in a truck that was actually her father and laws, my wife's father.
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And I said, I got to get out of here.
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I got three kids and people were getting hungry.
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It was hot.
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And she said, you're taking a risk.
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It's still flooded really bad.
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Well, I went down, Jubin.
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I got behind an 18 wheeler and that 18 wheeler made a wake just enough to where I could
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see the road because when I got on Jubin, it was licking up almost on the windows of the
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truck.
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Oh, my God.
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There were swamped cars with, I'll never forget passing a woman in a baby on top of a car.
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And you know, us as men, we want to stop and help.
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But if I stop, my whole family swamped.
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So I kept going, my wife starts crying.
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And I thought she was crying because she was scared.
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I turned in and said, I got this.
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You know, always driving, you know, four foot of water.
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And she kind of hits me and she says, not you.
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Look at that.
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And it was people launching boats.
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And my wife said, that's our people.
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And it moved her to tears.
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And me as well.
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And it was something that if you weren't there and you didn't see it, you'll never fully grasp
420
00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:43,680
it.
421
00:23:43,680 --> 00:23:44,680
Yeah.
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But you were for me and so many others in that event, the voice of Louisiana and someone
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that I could rely on for information because you couldn't hardly get it.
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And I will always be thankful for you and forever in your debt for what you've done.
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And I know you say that's your job, but it could have been the wrong person at the wrong
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time.
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And I'm thankful every day.
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It was you.
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So thank you for all of that.
430
00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:22,040
Proactivity versus reactivity seems like it can be a problem sometimes in Washington, especially
431
00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:26,840
with this flood, one of the things that you pushed as far as getting funding, not only for
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00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:29,440
this flood, but disasters is in general.
433
00:24:29,440 --> 00:24:32,000
Is hey, let's be proactive and not reactive.
434
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Let's not wait till something happens to figure out how we're going to pay for it.
435
00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:40,040
Number one, being a good financial steward in the United States treasury, you can look
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at all sorts of reports, calculations, estimates, being proactive is an extraordinary cost
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saver, extraordinary cost saver.
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00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:53,360
You're going to spend millions before or you're going to spend billions after just a quick
439
00:24:53,360 --> 00:24:59,040
ballpark estimate, 2016 flood, just sort of in this region alone, we ended up appropriating
440
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somewhere around $20 billion all in.
441
00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:04,480
And you know, just kind of putting things in perspective.
442
00:25:04,480 --> 00:25:07,640
You had a project north of us, the co meet diversion project.
443
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The project was sort of originated in the early 1980s.
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When I came to Congress, it had been stalled, thing had moved.
445
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I will make note that before the 2016 flood in January of 2015, the very first month I
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started, we secured, I think it was $7 million off a project that had been completely stalled,
447
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then a few months later we got an additional $10 million.
448
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And so we started getting that thing going again even before the flood.
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And then after the flood, you know, that's what we brought up just a guys no more piece
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mail.
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00:25:38,260 --> 00:25:39,260
We're going to do this thing.
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00:25:39,260 --> 00:25:43,640
And so we came in and we fully funded the co meet project.
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We fully funded this other project called five by use.
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We got money for livingston parish to come in and do clearing, snagging, dredging removal
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00:25:52,580 --> 00:25:59,420
of debris and vegetation in about four to 500 miles of rivers, by use canals and ditches
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00:25:59,420 --> 00:26:01,660
to help get flood water, evacuate flood water faster.
457
00:26:01,660 --> 00:26:02,660
In fact, they've done it.
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00:26:02,660 --> 00:26:03,860
They've done it twice now.
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00:26:03,860 --> 00:26:09,420
They've done almost over 900 miles of this stuff because they've done the four to 500 twice.
460
00:26:09,420 --> 00:26:10,420
That's huge.
461
00:26:10,420 --> 00:26:11,420
It is.
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00:26:11,420 --> 00:26:15,780
And most people don't realize that this entire base, it everywhere from St. Francisville
463
00:26:15,780 --> 00:26:19,980
on these sort of rivers from St. Francisville down, it all drains into Lake Marpo.
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It doesn't drain into the Mississippi River.
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00:26:21,900 --> 00:26:27,700
And so we now with the co meet diversion project that is a billion dollar project, that project
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00:26:27,700 --> 00:26:31,300
is going to connect to the Mississippi River, pulling water off the co meet.
467
00:26:31,300 --> 00:26:37,340
We funded a new project in the French settlement port Vincent area called the highway 22 spillway.
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So right there off highway 22, there's going to be sort of a southwest, a new outlet off
469
00:26:41,460 --> 00:26:45,980
the river draining into the Marpo Swamp high, so you have diversion canal, blind river,
470
00:26:45,980 --> 00:26:48,140
and this third one.
471
00:26:48,140 --> 00:26:55,500
So a lot of stuff going on now to really be proactive, to not get us back to where we were in
472
00:26:55,500 --> 00:26:58,860
2016, but to truly bring us next level.
473
00:26:58,860 --> 00:27:02,580
Now the bad thing is that we don't need to go build projects from the 80s and say we're
474
00:27:02,580 --> 00:27:04,180
done, like the co meet project.
475
00:27:04,180 --> 00:27:08,220
So we've brought, you know, the good news is we brought some new projects to the table and
476
00:27:08,220 --> 00:27:13,940
secured in addition to $1.2 billion on top of the other billions for old projects.
477
00:27:13,940 --> 00:27:19,700
The 1.2 is exclusively for sort of those next level projects, the perspective, the proactive
478
00:27:19,700 --> 00:27:22,020
projects, like the highway 22 spillway.
479
00:27:22,020 --> 00:27:25,900
So we're really excited about all the progress that's been made, but we got to get these
480
00:27:25,900 --> 00:27:26,900
projects finished.
481
00:27:26,900 --> 00:27:33,560
Yeah, I agree, and you've really done a good job with the projects that you brought not
482
00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:42,100
only to the Louisiana as a whole, but Livingston Parish, the broadband, the broadband for all,
483
00:27:42,100 --> 00:27:50,420
if you will, where we had underserved aspects of our community that COVID hit and they couldn't
484
00:27:50,420 --> 00:27:54,540
get on broadband if they wanted to to get a school of these kids.
485
00:27:54,540 --> 00:27:56,140
There just wasn't access.
486
00:27:56,140 --> 00:27:57,140
That's amazing.
487
00:27:57,140 --> 00:28:00,660
And that reddo community was one of the first ones that reached out to us when we started
488
00:28:00,660 --> 00:28:03,700
in 2015, came to us and started talking just about it.
489
00:28:03,700 --> 00:28:07,260
And so we started looking around and I don't remember the exact number, but I think we ended
490
00:28:07,260 --> 00:28:15,060
up finding it was either upper 20s or maybe even high 30s on the number of different broadband
491
00:28:15,060 --> 00:28:16,060
programs are out there.
492
00:28:16,060 --> 00:28:20,100
They had ones for schools, libraries, banks, healthcare.
493
00:28:20,100 --> 00:28:22,340
They had ones for rural areas.
494
00:28:22,340 --> 00:28:25,660
I mean, it was unbelievable, the number of programs.
495
00:28:25,660 --> 00:28:29,020
And so we were saying, look at this, it said, who is coordinating all of this?
496
00:28:29,020 --> 00:28:34,860
Who's making sure that the bank is not putting one on a fiber line on top of the one that
497
00:28:34,860 --> 00:28:35,860
the school is doing?
498
00:28:35,860 --> 00:28:37,860
Who's looking?
499
00:28:37,860 --> 00:28:38,860
There was no map.
500
00:28:38,860 --> 00:28:39,860
There was no map.
501
00:28:39,860 --> 00:28:40,860
There was no coordination.
502
00:28:40,860 --> 00:28:41,860
There was no nothing.
503
00:28:41,860 --> 00:28:45,740
One of the first things we did is we pulled in all of the different entities, again, from
504
00:28:45,740 --> 00:28:49,980
the healthcare providers to the banks, to the schools, to the libraries, to the communications
505
00:28:49,980 --> 00:28:50,980
companies.
506
00:28:50,980 --> 00:28:55,060
We started doing meetings in the parish and said, look, if there's not a map, if there's
507
00:28:55,060 --> 00:28:57,660
not a coordinated plan, let's sit down and make one.
508
00:28:57,660 --> 00:29:03,700
And to John Bell, Edwards Credit, he appointed later a sort of a broadband czar who came in
509
00:29:03,700 --> 00:29:05,420
and started mapping the whole state.
510
00:29:05,420 --> 00:29:07,660
But ultimately, we did the right thing.
511
00:29:07,660 --> 00:29:12,180
We got money to the communities that didn't have the right types of connections or didn't
512
00:29:12,180 --> 00:29:14,860
have any connection had to use satellite.
513
00:29:14,860 --> 00:29:17,460
And been able to make some really good progress.
514
00:29:17,460 --> 00:29:18,460
Yeah.
515
00:29:18,460 --> 00:29:19,460
I agree.
516
00:29:19,460 --> 00:29:25,220
But this parish in particular was well underserved in a lot of areas and we did get some money
517
00:29:25,220 --> 00:29:27,020
for that.
518
00:29:27,020 --> 00:29:30,300
I also wanted to mention, let's talk about ROTC.
519
00:29:30,300 --> 00:29:35,860
One of my favorite programs, y'all, inexistence, probably, I think are young people or where we
520
00:29:35,860 --> 00:29:38,460
need to put a lot of investment.
521
00:29:38,460 --> 00:29:42,620
And it's hard not to learn structure from ROTC.
522
00:29:42,620 --> 00:29:45,900
We did not have a program at Denham Springs High School.
523
00:29:45,900 --> 00:29:50,580
Our neighbors and Walker did, Buddy Mancy, who was the school board president at that time,
524
00:29:50,580 --> 00:29:53,180
had applied to get the ROTC program.
525
00:29:53,180 --> 00:29:58,180
He was denied and he knew exactly who to call to see if he could get some resolution.
526
00:29:58,180 --> 00:29:59,180
Tell me about that.
527
00:29:59,180 --> 00:30:00,180
Yeah.
528
00:30:00,180 --> 00:30:04,100
That was a really cool experience because we talked a little while ago about this community.
529
00:30:04,100 --> 00:30:08,460
You talked about how your wife tiered up because of all the community members just volunteering
530
00:30:08,460 --> 00:30:12,300
and going out there and doing rescues and everything.
531
00:30:12,300 --> 00:30:13,420
That's our community.
532
00:30:13,420 --> 00:30:18,860
And so when Buddy Mancy initially reached out to the army and said, hey, we want a ROTC
533
00:30:18,860 --> 00:30:25,740
program here, a ROTC, a junior ROTC program here, they said, look, we're not doing expansions
534
00:30:25,740 --> 00:30:26,740
right now.
535
00:30:26,740 --> 00:30:27,740
We're not going to do it anymore.
536
00:30:27,740 --> 00:30:28,740
It's not going to make sense.
537
00:30:28,740 --> 00:30:31,980
We're not going to have enough students mean every reason to say no.
538
00:30:31,980 --> 00:30:34,980
So we reached out and started talking to them and they were giving us the same line.
539
00:30:34,980 --> 00:30:37,180
We're not going to do expansion.
540
00:30:37,180 --> 00:30:40,220
There's just not the appetite for these types of programs anymore.
541
00:30:40,220 --> 00:30:43,340
And we said, look, I hear you.
542
00:30:43,340 --> 00:30:45,020
We don't know our community.
543
00:30:45,020 --> 00:30:46,260
You don't know our community.
544
00:30:46,260 --> 00:30:48,460
And they just, they said, no, at every turn.
545
00:30:48,460 --> 00:30:51,060
And we kept going back and just saying, you know what?
546
00:30:51,060 --> 00:30:52,740
I just want you to trust us.
547
00:30:52,740 --> 00:30:55,220
Just we know our community better than you do.
548
00:30:55,220 --> 00:30:56,660
I want you to trust us.
549
00:30:56,660 --> 00:31:02,780
And I don't remember the exact number, but I believe when we finally convinced them to do it,
550
00:31:02,780 --> 00:31:08,900
I think that they told us that it was the highest number of applications for any first
551
00:31:08,900 --> 00:31:11,060
year junior ROTC program in the country.
552
00:31:11,060 --> 00:31:15,260
Like it was just, they were dumbfounded and we were like, look, this is us.
553
00:31:15,260 --> 00:31:17,420
Like we bleed red, white and blue.
554
00:31:17,420 --> 00:31:22,980
We love our country and love our service members and they were blown away.
555
00:31:22,980 --> 00:31:24,420
And I mean, they were just like, you were right.
556
00:31:24,420 --> 00:31:26,100
This is amazing.
557
00:31:26,100 --> 00:31:29,260
And so buddy knew what he was doing.
558
00:31:29,260 --> 00:31:34,860
The denim spring high school is a fantastic school and just a great community and it's awesome
559
00:31:34,860 --> 00:31:37,700
how patriotic that school in this community is.
560
00:31:37,700 --> 00:31:44,700
It really is very, very proud of my son and daughters participated in ROTC and it wasn't
561
00:31:44,700 --> 00:31:45,700
even in my urging.
562
00:31:45,700 --> 00:31:47,180
I didn't have to urge them.
563
00:31:47,180 --> 00:31:49,260
They just did it.
564
00:31:49,260 --> 00:31:50,420
And learned a lot.
565
00:31:50,420 --> 00:31:55,120
Let's talk about fentanyl real quick and you've got some help coming for East Baton Rouge
566
00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:57,660
pair Sheriff's office in that fight.
567
00:31:57,660 --> 00:31:59,540
fentanyl is killing a lot of people.
568
00:31:59,540 --> 00:32:01,580
Yeah, it's actually for Sheriff Art as well.
569
00:32:01,580 --> 00:32:03,100
It's going to be a capital region program.
570
00:32:03,100 --> 00:32:04,100
Very good.
571
00:32:04,100 --> 00:32:08,100
Good luck.
572
00:32:08,100 --> 00:32:11,620
After the 2016 flood, you don't think about all these things but we started seeing suicides
573
00:32:11,620 --> 00:32:12,620
go up.
574
00:32:12,620 --> 00:32:14,900
We started seeing mental health problems happening.
575
00:32:14,900 --> 00:32:21,200
And the thing that really got me is we started having kids put in foster care and Sheriff
576
00:32:21,200 --> 00:32:24,500
Art and others can tell you, I mean, the number just spiked.
577
00:32:24,500 --> 00:32:26,860
And at first I'm like, what is going on?
578
00:32:26,860 --> 00:32:28,340
This is crazy.
579
00:32:28,340 --> 00:32:30,740
And we got everybody together.
580
00:32:30,740 --> 00:32:35,820
The law enforcement and got the child and family services folks and just everybody together
581
00:32:35,820 --> 00:32:38,980
and started sitting down trying to talk through what was happening.
582
00:32:38,980 --> 00:32:43,460
And they said, look, this is an effect of the flood.
583
00:32:43,460 --> 00:32:48,340
That all these people, you know, the stress, the despair ended up turning to drugs.
584
00:32:48,340 --> 00:32:51,180
fentanyl became so readily available.
585
00:32:51,180 --> 00:32:56,140
And so then they couldn't keep the kids because they were addicted and they were high or
586
00:32:56,140 --> 00:32:58,660
passed out or whatever all the time.
587
00:32:58,660 --> 00:33:03,540
And so we had a foster care crisis in Livingston Parish.
588
00:33:03,540 --> 00:33:07,820
And so we started working on that and then you start talking to the experts, the law enforcement
589
00:33:07,820 --> 00:33:10,060
others and you realize the source of it.
590
00:33:10,060 --> 00:33:15,020
And of course, this opens up in border, which is crazy is just allowing for these massive
591
00:33:15,020 --> 00:33:17,220
volumes of fentanyl to come across.
592
00:33:17,220 --> 00:33:20,500
And as somebody said to the day, one pill will kill.
593
00:33:20,500 --> 00:33:22,340
And it is such a small amount.
594
00:33:22,340 --> 00:33:29,060
So we've gotten together with Shere Gokcho and East Baton Rouge with Sheref Weber and Ascension
595
00:33:29,060 --> 00:33:37,340
Parish and Sheref Ard here in Livingston and doing a fentanyl and a violent crime program
596
00:33:37,340 --> 00:33:42,260
where they are going to be focusing on, because a lot of the violent crime is tied back
597
00:33:42,260 --> 00:33:46,900
to the drugs and they're going to be focusing on millions of dollars and they're going to be
598
00:33:46,900 --> 00:33:47,900
putting together technology.
599
00:33:47,900 --> 00:33:51,380
They're going to be working on a specific group of folks that are really going to be
600
00:33:51,380 --> 00:33:56,260
focusing on this issue, trying to stop this fentanyl crisis, trying to stop the supplies from
601
00:33:56,260 --> 00:34:01,300
getting in, getting people help that are addicted and really trying to turn the corner on
602
00:34:01,300 --> 00:34:03,460
this awful, awful epidemic we're seeing.
603
00:34:03,460 --> 00:34:09,820
Yeah, it really is awful and I'm glad to see our congressmen out there not only recognizing
604
00:34:09,820 --> 00:34:14,940
that, but taking some steps in order to do what we can do to rectify it.
605
00:34:14,940 --> 00:34:16,940
The Graves' quarterfix.
606
00:34:16,940 --> 00:34:18,220
Let's talk about that real quick.
607
00:34:18,220 --> 00:34:26,180
I find that very interesting, that is a deal for the benefits for disaster victims.
608
00:34:26,180 --> 00:34:35,020
A lot of people had some issues with those DOBs I guess.
609
00:34:35,020 --> 00:34:41,460
You get so frustrated, you've got all these federal agencies and they've got their Washington
610
00:34:41,460 --> 00:34:47,020
DC based, rigid rules and programs and so one of the things, all everybody is trying
611
00:34:47,020 --> 00:34:48,020
to do.
612
00:34:48,020 --> 00:34:50,940
They're trying to help.
613
00:34:50,940 --> 00:34:54,180
And so in the community, so you have all these agencies come in and people are like, look,
614
00:34:54,180 --> 00:34:55,940
I don't know where to start.
615
00:34:55,940 --> 00:34:57,580
Everything I own is flooded and gone.
616
00:34:57,580 --> 00:35:02,300
My cars, my clothes, my house, sounds very similar to what you experienced.
617
00:35:02,300 --> 00:35:07,260
And so like, look, I don't want a handout, but I need to hand up right now.
618
00:35:07,260 --> 00:35:12,020
And so you have a loan program, did a small business administration that loans to individuals
619
00:35:12,020 --> 00:35:17,620
not just businesses, to families that are in need, you're a FEMA that does a grant program.
620
00:35:17,620 --> 00:35:22,020
And then ultimately, as part of all the work that we did in addition to the billions and billions
621
00:35:22,020 --> 00:35:28,020
we've got for flood control and some of the reactive and proactive projects there, we also
622
00:35:28,020 --> 00:35:34,660
got $1.7 billion in grant funding for people like you that flooded and need to rebuild your
623
00:35:34,660 --> 00:35:35,740
home.
624
00:35:35,740 --> 00:35:38,540
And so here's the catch.
625
00:35:38,540 --> 00:35:39,980
I'll give you the scenario.
626
00:35:39,980 --> 00:35:44,620
You and I, let's say that we live across the street from one another, our homes are identical.
627
00:35:44,620 --> 00:35:48,100
We got the same height of water in the house.
628
00:35:48,100 --> 00:35:50,180
It did the exact same dollars and damage.
629
00:35:50,180 --> 00:35:51,460
We make the same amount of money.
630
00:35:51,460 --> 00:35:54,500
We have the same kids, everything identical.
631
00:35:54,500 --> 00:35:58,900
And let's say that you were proactive and said, gosh, I've got to get back in my community.
632
00:35:58,900 --> 00:36:03,260
And so you took that loan from the small business administration and you started swinging
633
00:36:03,260 --> 00:36:07,500
a hammer and you went down to, you know, home stands, home depot, whatever.
634
00:36:07,500 --> 00:36:10,300
You can tell a mustard, this is exactly how that happened.
635
00:36:10,300 --> 00:36:12,100
And you got everything you needed.
636
00:36:12,100 --> 00:36:16,100
And again, you mucked and gutted and you started rebuilding your house.
637
00:36:16,100 --> 00:36:17,100
And so that's what you did.
638
00:36:17,100 --> 00:36:18,940
Me, I'm across the street from you.
639
00:36:18,940 --> 00:36:19,940
And I said, you know what?
640
00:36:19,940 --> 00:36:23,820
I'm going to kick back at the, you know, holiday and or whatever, wherever famous, providing
641
00:36:23,820 --> 00:36:24,980
a hotel room for me.
642
00:36:24,980 --> 00:36:29,860
And I'm just going to kick back and stay here because I get free breakfast every morning.
643
00:36:29,860 --> 00:36:34,180
They come in and they clean my room and change my sheets and give me new towels.
644
00:36:34,180 --> 00:36:35,500
And I'm just going to kick back.
645
00:36:35,500 --> 00:36:38,500
I'm not, I don't see the urgency that you say.
646
00:36:38,500 --> 00:36:39,820
And so I sit in the hotel room.
647
00:36:39,820 --> 00:36:45,780
Well, over months, you can imagine I'm costing the federal government tens of thousands of
648
00:36:45,780 --> 00:36:46,780
dollars.
649
00:36:46,780 --> 00:36:50,820
In some cases, it can go into six figures.
650
00:36:50,820 --> 00:36:53,780
You boom, you stayed with a friend in slight help.
651
00:36:53,780 --> 00:36:57,060
You're back, you know, again, swinging hammers and you're, you're in your home.
652
00:36:57,060 --> 00:37:01,740
Well, then it took us one month after the 2016 flood, just started getting the grant funding,
653
00:37:01,740 --> 00:37:03,220
the 1.7 billion.
654
00:37:03,220 --> 00:37:07,620
It took the state months and months to get the program rolling.
655
00:37:07,620 --> 00:37:10,660
So let's say that six months later, the grants become available.
656
00:37:10,660 --> 00:37:14,860
I wake up one morning and say, maybe I'll, maybe I'll apply for the grant now.
657
00:37:14,860 --> 00:37:17,460
So I go to apply for the grant, I get the grant, okay?
658
00:37:17,460 --> 00:37:22,060
So I have a grant, a grant, a free money to pay that back.
659
00:37:22,060 --> 00:37:25,420
You have a loan that you have to pay back.
660
00:37:25,420 --> 00:37:27,820
I just cost taxpayers and again, I'm going to make numbers up.
661
00:37:27,820 --> 00:37:31,420
I cost back taxpayers $100,000 in a hotel room.
662
00:37:31,420 --> 00:37:37,020
I cost taxpayers, you know, all the staff time and everything else.
663
00:37:37,020 --> 00:37:40,420
All you did was apply for a loan and you started swinging hammers yourself.
664
00:37:40,420 --> 00:37:47,300
So I'm in major liability to taxpayers because I got the grant and I got the free hotel room.
665
00:37:47,300 --> 00:37:51,100
You effectively are nothing for no liability to taxpayers.
666
00:37:51,100 --> 00:37:52,420
You then say, oh, they're grants available.
667
00:37:52,420 --> 00:37:53,860
I'm going to apply for a grant.
668
00:37:53,860 --> 00:38:00,500
The federal policy was is that if you got a loan, you could not get a grant because they
669
00:38:00,500 --> 00:38:02,580
said that was double recovery.
670
00:38:02,580 --> 00:38:06,940
Now, obviously that doesn't pass the common sense.
671
00:38:06,940 --> 00:38:11,740
For the one that should be rewarded for what you did, I should be penalized for what I did
672
00:38:11,740 --> 00:38:13,220
in my hypothetical scenario.
673
00:38:13,220 --> 00:38:17,180
I want to be clear, hypothetical scenario.
674
00:38:17,180 --> 00:38:19,740
Yet under this policy, you were the one that was penalized.
675
00:38:19,740 --> 00:38:23,540
For getting back in your community faster, for helping reestablish property values and taxes
676
00:38:23,540 --> 00:38:27,820
and an economy that can recover.
677
00:38:27,820 --> 00:38:29,860
And so as said, this is crazy.
678
00:38:29,860 --> 00:38:33,380
So we started working initially with the Obama administration trying to get them reversed,
679
00:38:33,380 --> 00:38:36,580
the policy that didn't pass the common sense test, couldn't get them to do it.
680
00:38:36,580 --> 00:38:37,580
So we finally changed the law.
681
00:38:37,580 --> 00:38:40,420
So we changed the law and I'm thinking this is awesome, where I'm all excited.
682
00:38:40,420 --> 00:38:43,780
It took them one year, one year to write the rules.
683
00:38:43,780 --> 00:38:45,420
The bureaucrats didn't want to do it.
684
00:38:45,420 --> 00:38:47,020
So they finally write the rules.
685
00:38:47,020 --> 00:38:48,580
We start getting checks out to people.
686
00:38:48,580 --> 00:38:52,580
We finally got about 60% of the people that got assistance.
687
00:38:52,580 --> 00:38:58,060
And we find, what do you mean 60% of everybody needs it?
688
00:38:58,060 --> 00:38:59,060
We pushed them a little more.
689
00:38:59,060 --> 00:39:02,580
We got up to 80, maybe, maybe closer to 90% of the people.
690
00:39:02,580 --> 00:39:05,820
But they still, they came in and they invented this income threshold.
691
00:39:05,820 --> 00:39:09,900
And they said, anybody that makes over this much money, you are not getting anything, not
692
00:39:09,900 --> 00:39:11,980
a sliding scale, you're not getting anything.
693
00:39:11,980 --> 00:39:15,060
And the number, it depends on where you are in the community, but what, not a high number.
694
00:39:15,060 --> 00:39:21,300
I mean, it was like 60,000, I think, and some combined income in some areas.
695
00:39:21,300 --> 00:39:24,980
And so we fought with them on that and we got a little bit more progress.
696
00:39:24,980 --> 00:39:32,380
But ultimately, that last 10 to 20% of people, they've been stuck of the $1.7 billion we got,
697
00:39:32,380 --> 00:39:37,300
the $700 million of it was actually given to homeowners, the people that we intended all
698
00:39:37,300 --> 00:39:38,300
of it for.
699
00:39:38,300 --> 00:39:42,500
And here we are, here we are approaching eight years later.
700
00:39:42,500 --> 00:39:43,660
It's unforgettable.
701
00:39:43,660 --> 00:39:47,740
So I put provisions in different bills through the House of Representatives over and over
702
00:39:47,740 --> 00:39:49,740
again to fix this.
703
00:39:49,740 --> 00:39:52,660
And every time it gets in the Senate and it will get shut down.
704
00:39:52,660 --> 00:39:54,660
So we worked out this really good solution.
705
00:39:54,660 --> 00:39:58,940
We think we worked out everybody's concern, House Senate, Republican Democrat worked it all
706
00:39:58,940 --> 00:40:03,660
out. And in this last negotiation, it got Jettisoned on Friday, on Friday.
707
00:40:03,660 --> 00:40:05,700
And negotiations were to send it to the White House.
708
00:40:05,700 --> 00:40:10,940
And so I'm really aggravated about this because that last 10 to 20% of people, they deserve
709
00:40:10,940 --> 00:40:12,140
to be helped.
710
00:40:12,140 --> 00:40:19,740
And having only $700 million of $1.7 billion given to homeowners for assistance after eight
711
00:40:19,740 --> 00:40:22,420
years, it's not okay.
712
00:40:22,420 --> 00:40:24,780
So we're still, I'm committed to fixing this though.
713
00:40:24,780 --> 00:40:25,780
Yeah.
714
00:40:25,780 --> 00:40:28,340
It's the story of many, and it is outrageous.
715
00:40:28,340 --> 00:40:31,300
Let's talk about crawfish farmers real quick.
716
00:40:31,300 --> 00:40:37,540
And look, they had a tough, tough year y'all last year, drought record heat, but you got
717
00:40:37,540 --> 00:40:38,540
some help for them.
718
00:40:38,540 --> 00:40:40,340
Yeah, yeah, we have.
719
00:40:40,340 --> 00:40:46,540
So look, crawfish is a difficult one because you go to somebody in Michigan or you go to
720
00:40:46,540 --> 00:40:50,420
somebody in North Dakota, Iowa and said, hey, look, we need help for crawfish.
721
00:40:50,420 --> 00:40:51,420
Like what?
722
00:40:51,420 --> 00:40:52,940
So the shrimpers were having problems.
723
00:40:52,940 --> 00:40:54,980
We were able to do some things for them.
724
00:40:54,980 --> 00:40:58,820
Somebody like shrimp and we're able to get the USDA to buy a bunch of shrimp for food programs
725
00:40:58,820 --> 00:40:59,820
and stuff.
726
00:40:59,820 --> 00:41:03,260
Crawfish has been a little bit more difficult.
727
00:41:03,260 --> 00:41:08,700
So one, the crawfish farmers have been challenged because of the drought, but also the wild
728
00:41:08,700 --> 00:41:15,140
crawfish has been harmed as well because of the drought and the low water on the Chaffel-I
729
00:41:15,140 --> 00:41:16,380
River, for example.
730
00:41:16,380 --> 00:41:21,500
And so we have been working both with the United States Department of Agriculture to try and
731
00:41:21,500 --> 00:41:24,620
address some of the farm crawfish is usually harvested with rice.
732
00:41:24,620 --> 00:41:28,300
It's usually, it's a complimentary crop to rice.
733
00:41:28,300 --> 00:41:31,660
And so for those, we've been working with the USDA to get assistance there.
734
00:41:31,660 --> 00:41:37,380
And then for the wild ones, it's a unique species because you don't have a lot of fresh water
735
00:41:37,380 --> 00:41:39,540
commercially caught seafood.
736
00:41:39,540 --> 00:41:46,900
And so, National Marine Fisheries Service and NOAA, they do wild seafood assistance programs,
737
00:41:46,900 --> 00:41:49,380
disaster programs, but they don't do fresh water.
738
00:41:49,380 --> 00:41:55,420
So we had to get USDA involved for the, for the Farmed Crawfish, we have to get NOAA involved
739
00:41:55,420 --> 00:42:00,300
for the wild crawfish and trying to offer assistance to both of them so we can keep crawfish
740
00:42:00,300 --> 00:42:03,060
bowls going for generations to come.
741
00:42:03,060 --> 00:42:04,060
Absolutely, absolutely.
742
00:42:04,060 --> 00:42:05,580
And I know they appreciate it.
743
00:42:05,580 --> 00:42:06,580
I appreciate it.
744
00:42:06,580 --> 00:42:09,700
And everybody around here that eats crawfish appreciates it.
745
00:42:09,700 --> 00:42:13,980
We saw, all I know is, what, they were 12 and 15 bucks a pound for a little while.
746
00:42:13,980 --> 00:42:14,980
That's it.
747
00:42:14,980 --> 00:42:15,980
People like, what?
748
00:42:15,980 --> 00:42:16,980
That hurts.
749
00:42:16,980 --> 00:42:17,980
Yeah, that hurts.
750
00:42:17,980 --> 00:42:18,980
They're coming down.
751
00:42:18,980 --> 00:42:23,580
I think, I think they're around, my wife said they were like seven bucks boiled the other day.
752
00:42:23,580 --> 00:42:28,540
And it's weird when you think that's cheap, but I'm like, why not in bad?
753
00:42:28,540 --> 00:42:35,380
So we do a little fun fact segment on our, on our episodes of Local Leaders and it's just
754
00:42:35,380 --> 00:42:40,740
some little fun things that people get to know your congressman, if you will.
755
00:42:40,740 --> 00:42:43,260
So have three questions for you.
756
00:42:43,260 --> 00:42:47,620
The first is, what did you want to be when you were 12 years old?
757
00:42:47,620 --> 00:42:48,620
Wow.
758
00:42:48,620 --> 00:42:57,860
When I was 12, you know, I'd say probably a police officer when I was 12.
759
00:42:57,860 --> 00:43:04,620
I just always had to still do so much respect for those folks and just even now, he and just,
760
00:43:04,620 --> 00:43:09,380
just hold them in such high regard for what they do and sacrifice for them and their families.
761
00:43:09,380 --> 00:43:12,380
If you could have any superpower, what would you pick?
762
00:43:12,380 --> 00:43:13,380
I think fly.
763
00:43:13,380 --> 00:43:15,660
Yeah, me, Apple flyer.
764
00:43:15,660 --> 00:43:21,820
I love, I love being up and I spent a lot of time hiking and I just getting up above things
765
00:43:21,820 --> 00:43:23,820
and looking down, I love it.
766
00:43:23,820 --> 00:43:25,220
Very good.
767
00:43:25,220 --> 00:43:31,580
And what would you say has been your favorite part of being a US congressman for the six
768
00:43:31,580 --> 00:43:33,380
districts, that's what I thought?
769
00:43:33,380 --> 00:43:34,380
Yeah.
770
00:43:34,380 --> 00:43:35,380
So hands down.
771
00:43:35,380 --> 00:43:38,780
So look, you probably run across people all the time that explains something to you like
772
00:43:38,780 --> 00:43:43,700
duplication of benefits or a veteran who is not being treated properly by the veterans
773
00:43:43,700 --> 00:43:49,580
affairs or the IRS has improperly charged someone taxes and you're looking at that and you
774
00:43:49,580 --> 00:43:51,300
just say, you know what, that's wrong.
775
00:43:51,300 --> 00:43:54,700
And you just, you get frustrated and you get frustrated with the government.
776
00:43:54,700 --> 00:43:57,980
My favorite part is actually being able to help people.
777
00:43:57,980 --> 00:44:02,700
And I, you know, when people have those problems, when you see these crazy federal policies
778
00:44:02,700 --> 00:44:06,460
that don't pass the common sense test to come and say, you know what, we're going to do
779
00:44:06,460 --> 00:44:07,460
a bill and we're going to fix that.
780
00:44:07,460 --> 00:44:09,140
And I'll give you one quick example.
781
00:44:09,140 --> 00:44:10,140
I will never forget.
782
00:44:10,140 --> 00:44:13,580
After 2016 flood, you can imagine all of these people calling and saying, hey, I need
783
00:44:13,580 --> 00:44:15,180
help, I need help.
784
00:44:15,180 --> 00:44:22,100
And under a law that was written in 1974, we can help, but we need someone to sign a piece
785
00:44:22,100 --> 00:44:25,780
of paper, print out a piece of paper, explain, I'll sign it and then send it to us in order
786
00:44:25,780 --> 00:44:26,780
for us to help them.
787
00:44:26,780 --> 00:44:28,380
It's a privacy act thing.
788
00:44:28,380 --> 00:44:30,780
And so you can imagine them like, yeah, all you need to do is go to our website, click
789
00:44:30,780 --> 00:44:35,180
on this link, print out that form and these people like, hey, moron.
790
00:44:35,180 --> 00:44:37,300
Remember when I told you my house was under eight feet of water?
791
00:44:37,300 --> 00:44:41,180
That would be my computer, my printer, you know, you're just like, ah, he's like, how is
792
00:44:41,180 --> 00:44:47,260
it that I can order new t-shirts off of Amazon, but I can't help these people off of a phone
793
00:44:47,260 --> 00:44:49,540
or some type of mobile device.
794
00:44:49,540 --> 00:44:50,700
This doesn't make sense.
795
00:44:50,700 --> 00:44:52,780
And so, you know, it's a perfect example.
796
00:44:52,780 --> 00:44:54,860
Got together with the Congressman from Massachusetts.
797
00:44:54,860 --> 00:44:58,460
We did a bipartisan bill, by camera bill signed into the law in today.
798
00:44:58,460 --> 00:45:02,540
You can use your phone, you know, you can use your phone to get assistance.
799
00:45:02,540 --> 00:45:06,660
If you've lost your passport and you're overseas, how are you going to sign a piece of paper
800
00:45:06,660 --> 00:45:07,660
and send it over and out stuff?
801
00:45:07,660 --> 00:45:09,180
So it's awesome.
802
00:45:09,180 --> 00:45:11,900
Just being able to step in and say, you know what, we're going to fix that.
803
00:45:11,900 --> 00:45:12,900
I love it.
804
00:45:12,900 --> 00:45:13,900
I love it.
805
00:45:13,900 --> 00:45:14,900
Yeah.
806
00:45:14,900 --> 00:45:16,100
Well, you're doing a great job.
807
00:45:16,100 --> 00:45:18,060
We appreciate it.
808
00:45:18,060 --> 00:45:19,580
Please keep, keep fighting.
809
00:45:19,580 --> 00:45:26,100
I know you will, but there's a lot of people out there that could not imagine the six district
810
00:45:26,100 --> 00:45:27,580
without you, quite frankly.
811
00:45:27,580 --> 00:45:28,580
All right.
812
00:45:28,580 --> 00:45:30,100
Look, if I even give it just 30 seconds.
813
00:45:30,100 --> 00:45:31,100
Yeah.
814
00:45:31,100 --> 00:45:34,340
Look, one thing, I really appreciate the opportunity to join you today.
815
00:45:34,340 --> 00:45:39,100
It's no secret that in Washington, things are chaotic and it's a complete mess.
816
00:45:39,100 --> 00:45:44,060
I just, I want to urge everybody who's listening no matter where you are.
817
00:45:44,060 --> 00:45:49,260
When you're looking to determine who to vote for, just really look and see what these people
818
00:45:49,260 --> 00:45:50,260
have done.
819
00:45:50,260 --> 00:45:51,580
You know, we talked about a lot of things.
820
00:45:51,580 --> 00:45:54,700
We've actually been able to accomplish by working together with a great group of people
821
00:45:54,700 --> 00:45:56,260
in this community.
822
00:45:56,260 --> 00:46:00,060
And the people that I think are often voted for are the people that are loudest, that
823
00:46:00,060 --> 00:46:05,340
have the viral, you know, video or whatever else versus the people that are actually getting
824
00:46:05,340 --> 00:46:06,340
points on the board.
825
00:46:06,340 --> 00:46:08,540
People that are actually solving problems.
826
00:46:08,540 --> 00:46:12,020
And I'm really concerned about the direction of the country and the Congress right now.
827
00:46:12,020 --> 00:46:17,580
If we don't fix this and bring some more functionality back to the Congress, I'm incredibly concerned
828
00:46:17,580 --> 00:46:22,340
about where this country goes, the additional power, lack of checks and balances for the White
829
00:46:22,340 --> 00:46:24,260
House, for the judicial and others.
830
00:46:24,260 --> 00:46:28,980
And I think it's absolutely critical as we move forward that you think about your representative
831
00:46:28,980 --> 00:46:31,420
as a salesperson, you know, what do they sell in?
832
00:46:31,420 --> 00:46:33,220
What progress are they making?
833
00:46:33,220 --> 00:46:34,220
How are they advancing?
834
00:46:34,220 --> 00:46:37,660
My company, our community, our family, really, really critical.
835
00:46:37,660 --> 00:46:39,700
100% couldn't agree more.
836
00:46:39,700 --> 00:46:40,700
Thank you for coming on.
837
00:46:40,700 --> 00:46:41,700
You had a good time.
838
00:46:41,700 --> 00:46:42,700
Yeah, this was awesome.
839
00:46:42,700 --> 00:46:43,700
Very good.
840
00:46:43,700 --> 00:46:44,700
Very good.
841
00:46:44,700 --> 00:46:46,100
Thank you to all your listeners out there.
842
00:46:46,100 --> 00:46:49,300
We're approaching one million downloads on YouTube.
843
00:46:49,300 --> 00:46:51,780
And look, we couldn't do it without each and every one of you.
844
00:46:51,780 --> 00:46:54,340
We're totally blessed to do what we do.
845
00:46:54,340 --> 00:46:59,900
And until next time, I'm Jim Chapman, reminding you, love your community, support local business
846
00:46:59,900 --> 00:47:00,900
and keep leading.
847
00:47:00,900 --> 00:47:02,500
Thank you very much.
848
00:47:02,500 --> 00:47:06,660
The epic floods in Southern Louisiana, expect to get worse today.
849
00:47:06,660 --> 00:47:10,460
There are, you know, they're struggling, their homes are flooded.
850
00:47:10,460 --> 00:47:12,740
There's still a lot of water in that area.
851
00:47:12,740 --> 00:47:15,500
Historic flooding.
852
00:47:15,500 --> 00:47:21,740
Shook our spirit, devastated our homes and businesses, and put tears in our eyes.
853
00:47:21,740 --> 00:47:26,020
But it also brought us together.
854
00:47:26,020 --> 00:47:32,420
Neighbors helping neighbors, like the Cajun Navy, our law enforcement, firefighters, teachers,
855
00:47:32,420 --> 00:47:35,700
our churches, and countless others.
856
00:47:35,700 --> 00:47:40,220
Many with flooded homes themselves, but working around the clock to help.
857
00:47:40,220 --> 00:47:43,180
Entire communities band together.
858
00:47:43,180 --> 00:47:48,100
Because in Louisiana, there are no strangers when one of us is in need.
859
00:47:48,100 --> 00:47:56,500
We're proving every day that our resilience and passion will be the key to our recovery.
860
00:47:56,500 --> 00:47:58,620
I'm Congressman Garrett Graves.
861
00:47:58,620 --> 00:48:03,420
I know that you're tired and worried, but I've seen your determination in hard work.
862
00:48:03,420 --> 00:48:08,580
And know that standing shoulder to shoulder, we will rebuild.
863
00:48:08,580 --> 00:48:14,340
We're telling our story to our nation's leaders in Washington and every day working to get
864
00:48:14,340 --> 00:48:17,300
the resources needed to recover.
865
00:48:17,300 --> 00:48:23,460
No stone will be left unturned to fix the problems and make sure this never happens again.
866
00:48:23,460 --> 00:48:27,180
We will recover because our spirit is unbroken.
867
00:48:27,180 --> 00:48:37,180
[MUSIC]
