Open Letter: Demand for Relief to Evacuees of Hurricane Laura

An Open Letter to Governor John Bel Edwards & State Representatives

Governor John Bel Edwards 
Speaker of the House Clay Schexnayder 
Senate President Page Cortez 
Senator John Kennedy 
Senator Bill Cassidy 

Dear Governor Edwards, Speaker of the House Schexnayder, Senate President Cortez, Senator  Kennedy, Senator Cassidy: 

The Louisiana Movement for Workers Councils condemns members of the Louisiana  State Legislature and U.S. Congress who, at this moment of crisis, are playing political games.  The special session is clearly more about expanding your power and privileges than it is about  expanding the unemployment fund or providing genuine hurricane relief to the tens of thousands  of Louisianans adversely affected by Hurricane Laura. 

You continue to ignore dire conditions of Hurricane Laura evacuees who need urgent  assistance with income, housing, jobs, mortgages, transportation, and food. The only relief that  has come through was announced for the sake of a photo op. Most aid has been delayed or  bogged down in bureaucratic red tape. Thousands have still not received SNAP, unemployment,  housing alternatives, or cash income.   

While you are renewing or issuing new tax exemptions to profitable corporations and  wealthy individuals, the working people of the affected parishes—on whose backs this state runs —have been left in the dust. 

We call for representatives of the Workforce Commission, SNAP, FEMA, and HUD to  station on-the-ground personnel and equipment. Representatives of these agencies must undo the  bureaucratic holdups by ensuring that: (1) FEMA pay out emergency money every day, all day;  (2) families have homes to stay in temporarily or permanently; (3) a housing repair fund is  provided for the thousands without insurance (because you have allowed insurance rates in  Louisiana to become the most unaffordable in the country); (4) children have computers and  reliable internet to attend classes.   

Every day we are reminded that the rich are getting richer while you ignore the workers’  needs in favor of your own narrow interests. Hurricane Laura has scattered people, leaving  thousands desperate. But folks are organizing. Your inaction and callous disregard will be  remembered.   

Sincerely, 

Louisiana Movement for Workers Councils