WASHINGTON -- It's a tough time for a governor to go to Washington, hat in hand, to ask for billions of dollars for a hard-hit state, especially with Congress in the midst of election-season dysfunction.
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But Gov. John Bel Edwards returned for the second time in two weeks, pleading for almost $3 billion to help Louisiana rebuild from last month's devastating floods, undeterred by warnings that he should keep expectations low.
"What I was told to expect was that there would be a tremendous difference in the way I'm perceived than what would have happened after Katrina because even disaster recovery funding seems to be caught up in partisan gridlock, whereas that was never the case before," Edwards said in an interview Thursday. "But that has not been my experience thus far."
Congress was generous in approving $95 billion to help Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas rebuild after Katrina.
Funding to help the Northeast after Superstorm Sandy four years ago was a much more difficult lift, with the bulk of President Barack Obama's aid request opposed by House Republicans.
More recently, GOP conservatives have been slow to embrace the need for $1 billion or so to battle the mosquito-borne Zika virus.
Edwards, a first-year Democrat, has teamed up with the Pelican State's GOP-dominated congressional delegation behind a drive to add Louisiana flood aid to a short-term spending bill that Congress needs to pass to avoid a government shutdown in two weeks.
Louisiana is known for rough-and-tumble politics -- Edwards handily beat GOP U.S. Sen. David Vitter in last year's gubernatorial race -- but the rival sides are united now.
"We've all been working really well together to stay focused on helping people get back in their houses, and that's where our focus needs to be," said U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the No. 3 Republican in the House.
Edwards wasn't the only governor in Washington last week. Another visitor, GOP Gov. Rick Scott of Florida, met with top Republicans on Zika aid Tuesday and Wednesday -- and was spitting fire at Democrats for holding up a GOP-drafted measure to fight the virus, which can cause birth defects and is spreading in Florida. But Scott arrived just as the long-stalled Zika measure appears about to break free.
Edwards met with House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., on Thursday and met with Obama on Friday, after sitting down with two Cabinet members last week, including budget director Shaun Donovan, who submitted the administration's official request Tuesday evening.
"It's incumbent upon us to have good relationships and good communication regardless of party, but it's just easier when you are in the same party. And I think that has been helpful when I've been meeting with the president but also with his Cabinet secretaries," Edwards said. "But it's also obviously helpful to have folks from the Louisiana congressional delegation who can work the Republican side of the aisle."
"We want to try to find ways to help Louisiana even at this real late date," said the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, U.S. Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Ky., who met with Edwards on Thursday.
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