Transcripts For CSPAN Senator Bill Cassidy Town Hall Meeting 20170702

Federal officials who answered questions about flood damage and recovery efforts. Senator cassidy also discussed the Health Care Law replaced and bill. The town hall ran one hour. [applause] we are going to talk about many things. One thing i want to make sure we address our concerns people have about recovery from the great floods of 2016. That said, we have folks here that have resources, or at least explanations. I want to ask them to speak first. Then i will ask different people to comment. We are going to go around. If at any point you feel like you would be better off talking to fema than listening to this conversation, i will consider it more appropriate that you stand up and walk over and speak to fema because we need to have your needs addressed. Also, before i go forward, is my staff around . Or are they still circulating . I have three beautiful woman back there. I have michael, who specializes in casework for flood victims. Dale, are you here . He does casework. He may come in later. Who am i seeing . Catherine stewart back there. If theres an issue in particular that you think one of our staff can help you with, i need to go seek them out. I will tell you that scripture says the greatest among you shall be your servants. Our office desires to be the greatest service. They desire the greatest servant. So give them the opportunity. That said, and a particular order, do we want to come speak . Kathy is not here. You are speaking for her. Good afternoon. My name is casey. I work for the Governors Office of Homeland Security and emergency preparedness. Really quickly this afternoon, i wanted to update you a little bit on Hazard Mitigation funding that will be coming to the state from fema. We manage that program on behalf of the state. We are going to be working with the parishes, and in particular east baton rouge parish, on utilizing that funding to address drainage improvement and flood protection type objects type projects that better protect you and our citizens in the years to come. That funding is not really Recovery Funding in terms of fixing what happened. You will hear more about programs relative to that. But those mitigation dollars are in place to help better protect us moving forward. To reduce the risk of the type of flooding we had last year and so many of you are familiar with. If you have got specific questions on that, i will be hanging around after the event and happy to address any of those engines you might have or to speak with you what i want those questions you might have or to speak with you oneonone about grant assistance programs you may have questions about. Thank you. Hi. I am bill, a native louisianan louisianan. Ive been working with the state to help prepare for disasters, as well as working the recovery issues from the flood. I have a lot of folks here in the back come out in the lobby that will be able to entertain individual questions or issues you might have with fema, including National Flood insurance, as well as individual assistance programs that we have. We will have those folks in the back during that time. I want to take the opportunity to make sure you are ready for hurricane season. We have a website called ready. Gov that you can use to get yourself ready for hurricane season. We already had Tropical Storm cindy. We weathered that storm. Hurricane season isnt over until november, so just make sure you are prepared. If you have issues that we can discuss with fema, i have folks in the back that are experts in each of those programs that can help you through that. I will turn it back over. Hello, my name is pat forbes. Im the executive director of the Louisiana Office of community development. Our job is to help distribute funds that hud and Congress Send to us for recovery from disasters. The governor, senator cassidy, the rest of the delegation have worked very hard to get some 1. 7 billion allocated to the state of louisiana for recovery from the floods in march and august. Our job now is to distribute that and get it to the people who need it. The biggest piece of that is our Homeowner Program. We have a program. If you are a homeowner and your primary residence was at home, and you flooded, with very potentially have funds to help you, even if you rebuilt. Even if you make 1 million a year. Even if you have not started. Because of the last appropriation we just got, we have up until that point not accept it you were ineligible if you had structural Flood Insurance. Now we are able to start opening the gate for even people who had Flood Insurance, but still have unmet needs. So my main message here today is, we have a survey, an Online Survey that is the first step in applying for assistance through this program. You have to fill out the survey. You can do that online at restore. La. Gov. You can call 8667352001 if you have not filled out the survey. We have folks out in the hall right now with computers, and they can fill it out for you, as we need today. Even if you are not eligible right now, you may very well be eligible in the future as more funds are available. Senator cassidy, the governor, and the rest of the delegation need the information we are gathering through this survey to go back to congress and explain why we need more money for this recovery. So the big message is here, please fill out the survey. They can help you. You can help your neighbors. It can help you. It can help your neighbors. It can help your state. It takes about three or four minutes to fill out. It is easy. If you need if you have your fema id number, thats great. You dont need it. Go online and fill out the survey. At that point, we invite people in to applications. We are doing this in phases so it doesnt impact your recovery and we can continue quickly once we invite you into application. We have already sent out some 9000 invitations to get in the program. We will be sending more out. [indiscernible] thank you, sir. If we dont understand where you are in your recovery, we dont have the full picture and we cant still we cant tell the story in washington about how our recovery is short. We have to hear from you. If you have neighbors, friends, family who were flooded and were homeowners, please ask them if they have filled out the survey. We need to this. We need everyone we can we need this. We did everyone who can fill out the survey. We have other programs that i will talk about before taking questions. We have programs for rental housing. If you were the owner of a rental housing unit from one to seven units when the flood it, and you flooded, we can give you money to take out your construction loan that you have got to get your apartment back in service. You we want to do that. The second part of that is, what we require for the money is that you rent to people of low to moderate income at affordable rates. You are going to reduce your rent for a while for the purpose of getting our funds and getting those units back in place. We have got a multifamily unit rental program. We have got a Small Business program. All of these are on restored. La. Gov, and you can get information about where to go. Sen. Cassidy here is sharing robinson sharon robinson, and helping people to sign up. Ive been helping coordinate members. I did not personally flood, but not of people but a lot of it people not being computer literate, helping them with that. It takes six to seven minutes. A 10 minutes or less and you are done. Sen. Cassidy any questions for pat . Yes maam. [inaudible] sen. Cassidy thank you. The question is about people who took out sba loans. We have tried and tried to get relief thank you. The question is about people who took out sba loans. We have tried to get relief for those people. If you had 50,000 worth of damage in your home of the flood damage and got a 25,000 sba loan, we cant replace whatever portion of that loan was for structural repair. We can replace anything that was for contents or other aspects of the house. We can also cover the unmet need above 25,000 that you borrowed. But we cannot replace the sba loan. Federal law considers that a duplication of federal benefits. Im sorry, we have not been able to get a different answer. Weve intended to address that in washington. That is federal law. Yes maam . [indiscernible] i spoke to the loan officer who made my loan, and he referred me to el paso, texas. Both of those people told me that sba does not consider those loans as duplicate benefits as long as the money for reimbursement follows item seven of your loan document. I have copies of that. I have given it to your office and to several legislatures already. Basically, what it says is that the reimbursement needs to be assigned to the sba for the loan to be paid down. Thats what two different sba officers told me this week. All i can say im sorry, all i can say is that it is exactly the opposite of what hud, sba, multiple im sorry. I cant [indiscernible] i sen. Cassidy michael, hold up your hand. Dale is back there. Those are two caseworkers. Maam, if you could connect with michael or dale, let them get your information, and we will try to get to the bottom of it for you. Theres a gentleman back here that had a question. Just a second, maam. Im 71 years old. In i lost four pieces of property and to businesses. I pay plenty of taxes. Ii pay plenty of taxes. It was not raining when my house flooded. My house is for fleet is four feet higher than where it should have been. Sba wants me to borrow money for contractors that rip me off. And i have to fix my other houses. You sba already told me that i was approved. My credit score was 825. They told me already i could get almost any amount of money i need. They sent me some money, but i sent it back. They would give me food stamps. They wouldnt do nothing. Fema gave me 12,000. I havent heard anything. I all my neighbors got the max. I got 12,000, and im 71. [indiscernible] i wasnt supposed to flood. Im for the higher then supposed to be im four feet higher than im supposed to be. Sen. Cassidy our neighborhood landlord rental program, you would be eligible for that. Go to restore. La. Gov or go to the Housing Association and talk to them about the landlord program. We can give you money to take out on whatever loan you did to do construction. Sen. Cassidy one more time, neighborhood landlord program. Thank you. Sen. Cassidy the pastor was saying people are not moving back to the rental properties, so obviously we needed program to get folks back into their rental properties, which is good for this area. And weve got it. 36 million available for people. [inaudible] [no audio] [inaudible] knows her note or no sir. If you provide the of four for a certain period of time, you dont have to pay anything back the Affordable Housing for a certain period of time, you dont have to pay anything back. As long as you can demonstrate it flooded and that you got it back in shape. You all we really care about is are you providing the Affordable Rentals for certain period of time. Sen. Cassidy jennifer is passing out information. If you need more info, you can [inaudible] sen. Cassidy pause for a it willsen. Cassidy pause for a second. We will take some more questions. Louisiana resource told me if i borrow any money from sba, they were going to take all that out of what it cost me to fix my own house. Thats right. Thats the same answer i had before. Im sorry its not different. Weve asked and asked, but an sba loan we cant replace that with the grant. Sen. Cassidy we are going to take some more questions. Let me do what i should have done off the back and say thank you. I want to thank the pastor and his church for hosting. I should pass out the plate for a love offering. [laughter] he said, dont tempt him. For a love offering. [applause] he said, dont tempt him. [laughter] cynthia, wherever you are, my staff says you are fantastic. I see miss helen answering the phones plus a thank you as well. I want to thank Law Enforcement. We saw steve scullys gunned down Steve Scalise gunned down. Those there to attend were also injured. I think Law Enforcement. When i first came to this church at Montrell Jackson ceremony, all of us should thank our Law Enforcement and others. Give them a big round of applause. [applause] pamela johnson, are you still here . Thank you. Wonderful to see you. And then, state representative edmond jordan looking as long as young as i once did. Kent james is back here ted james is back here. He is usually giving me heck on twitter. I should say giving me have. Thats giving me heaven giving me heaven. [laughter] i also want to thank a woman i dont know her name. I was having a townhall and someone submitted a question. She said, as i recall, we flooded in North Baton Rouge and theres not been a federal official who has come to North Baton Rouge. I told my staff, we are going to North Baton Rouge. This is during work hours. There are some folks working now. If youre getting off of work, you can go to one. If you are at work, you can go to the other. But i mean it. We are here to serve yall. [applause] thank you. I can promise you, we may disagree on issues, but we probably dont disagree as much as you might think we do. What we can agree upon is that folks in this neighborhood who flooded need to have the assistance that allows them to restore their life in a way which restores the community. As one example, because this topic will come up later, i think all of you know or many of you may know i work at a hospital for many years, taking care of the uninsured. We also have a common goal of how we provide health care to all americans in a way which meets their needs . [applause] [indiscernible] [applause] an sen. Cassidy bill, do you want to come up . Excuse me. We will talk health care, but this was originally for those folks who are trying to put their lives back together who have not yet been able to. I will do the first part of this for those such folks. By the way, is there a woman here, Virginia Johnson . Virginia johnson is the friend of a close family friend of ours. Let me give this question to whomever. It rained. Had a leak and a roof leak in a roof. It ruin her ceiling. She got not hundred dollars to fix resealing, but nothing got 900 to fix her ceiling, but nothing to fix the roof. So the damage to the ceiling continues. This seems a crazy sort of program. I know theres an explanation. I am only transmitting a question that was put through miss johnson to our friend, to me, to yall. Is there a way to address that . Depends on if that was preexisting damage. N a k3 have preexisting damage that wasnt caused by the storm, that is not eligible if you have a case where you have preexisting damage that wasnt caused by the storm, that is not eligible. Fema does not provide everything. Fema is there to get you safe and secure so you can recover. We dont provide the full recovery. If somebody does have a question regarding that, we have our individual assistant folks out at the tables in the back. They are right behind the doors out there outside in the lobby. If you have your fema number, they can look up your case. They can look up your individual situation and address it oneonone with you to make sure you understand what the program is and if there is an issue. It is always a peelable it is always appealable. There may be other way through voluntary agencies. I just want to say that under the Homeowner Program, it doesnt matter. If you flooded in one of the two floods and you access assistance from our program, it doesnt matter whether damage was caused by the flood or not. When our program leaves, we have a little more flexibility than fema. When we leave, your house will be safe and sanitary. It doesnt matter in the Homeowner Program whether the damage occurred from the storm are not, as long as you did have damage from the storm and meet the other criteria. Sen. Cassidy but a point on it. For jimmy johnson, Virginia Johnson, if it is leaking through the roof even if it was preexisting and can and it continues to be ruined, can get assistance through the program. My staff tells me we just put the survey on our facebook page. You may have to wade through a lot of comments from people who dont particularly like me. Or you can come down here and speak to sharon. The point is and theres also folks out there but you need to register. Just sign up. You dont even have to do the survey. Velma, where are you . Talk to us. Im a widow. I had heart surgery and live by myself. It was raining inside. I have to put bucket i need a whole new roof and i dont have any income to fix it. I need help. Sen. Cassidy same answer . She can go register . Her roof is just totally messed up. Assuming that you are eligible for the program, which means you had one foot of water or more [inaudible] so the storm not the shingles off the roof knocked the singles the shingles off the roof. Is it not the roofing off, that would be fema individual assistance issue if it knocked the roofing off, that would be a fema individual assistance issue. It sounds like you may not be eligible for the Homeowner Program if you did not have one foot of water. Sen. Cassidy get michaels card over there. If you feel like you could appeal the fema rolling, he is the gentleman, or dale the fema ruling, he is the gentleman, or dale, who could address that. Yes maam . Is the investigation as far as the flooding because my home never flooded before how do we prevent future problems . What are we doing to prevent future flooding in our areas . Every time it rains, people are paranoid. What are we doing with the drainage systems . Is this in any way associated with the flood mapping that was done in 2008, where a lot of properties that werent in the flood area are now considered in the flood area even though they may not have let it have flooded . Is that associated . Sen. Cassidy this was considered a 1000 year flood. We are told it will not impact our future flood maps. It is really considered a one off. Again, i grew up in baton rouge. Used to play on the jet and howell park when i was a boy. The i told pastor i had never seen this area with standing water. It was just amazing. One, we know there was a lot of water. Secondly, what we can say compared to when i was a little boy maybe you werent born yet is a lot of land that was not developed is now developed. Land that used to absorb water in the dirt now has concrete on it, and instead of being absorbed in the dirt, it runs off into the drainage ditches, and those drainage ditches quickly backup. I went to a meeting with the army corps of engineers, and they said we had authorization for 40 years to clean out wards creek to make it drain better. I said, you cant do that. 40 years ago, prairieville was nothing more than a prairie. Now prairieville is where thousands of homes are. So they said they are going to do a basin wide analysis of what can be done. We know that the problem has kind of grown bit by bit. It may take a bit by bit solution. A diversion probably would have helped this area. Oh yes, hello. Governor edwards asked president Obamas Administration for money to complete that, and for whatever reason, the Obama Administration decided not to do that. We did subsequently get on the last budget bill 6. 7 million to begin it. If we can get the comey diversion going, that would be a major help in preventing this area from flooding once more. We are working on a new Flood Insurance program. Im working with democratic senator from new york kirsten gillibrand. In it we have 4 billion a year for socalled flood litigation. If there is socalled flood mitigation. If there is something a community can do to decrease their risk of flooding so that you dont have to pay out Flood Insurance premiums, we think it is a very good bill. We dont know if it is going to be our bill that passes, but everyone else is copying off our bill, so we think ultimately most of it get through. We are hoping the diversion, the coursework for the basin wide analysis, as well as the 400 million per year that would come out of our bill if it is approved, could all be used by this community and others to lower the risk of flooding. On the other hand, sea levels are rising. We can anticipate at least coastal is serious at least coastal areas to have more flooding. It is going to be a nationwide issue for a while. My house flooding, i know the drainage system has been cut off for some reason. I am trying to understand how could i have two drains in my yard and my house still floods . Something had to have been done before to divert the water. How are we preventing that, and what . Sen. Cassidy some of these may be for your councilwoman and state rep. Some of that is local implementation of federal dollars. That the city drain. Yes maam . Theres a couple of things i think can help prevent. One thing is before we had the siemens grounds that is a very good point the rivers were dredged. All of our waterways were dredged out so that it widened. That hadnt been done. I dont know whose fault that is. Part parish, part federal, part state. Everybody has a piece of this high this pie. We need those rivers dredged out and widened and deepened to a comedy the change in the sea flow and every thing else. It is up to us, as well. I cant tell you how many people in my subdivision cut the grass and then put the trash in the drain. Thats got to go somewhere. If you are living with two drains, that means everybody around you is putting that trash or that weeds or whatever. We have got to start living like a community again. We have got to start living like a community. The last part, how do we stop building out into our how pastors and land . How do we stop building out into our farmland to save it to be the area where water can go . That has got to be a federal, state something. [applause] sen. Cassidy one aspect of this is, for example, one thing i think the corps is going to do, the reason why wasnt flowing rapidly enough that the reason water wasnt flowing rapidly enough is there was all this brush. They said they would clear that a out. Secondly when . When . Sen. Cassidy i will check with the corps on that and post it. My understanding is that process should have already begun. In terms of dredging, thats a little bit more complicated because the dredging, you need army corps of engineers permits. Your kid is born in going to college sometimes by the time you get the permit. We have to have an extradited permit process so it doesnt take forever to get that done. Lastly, regarding zoning laws, those laws are not federal, although you do have to get army corps permit for some things. Those are typically more local and state. Maam, you had your arm up. Just a second. For community development, he said if you have one feet of water at least. I know i had one feet of water, but when fema came out they said i had six inches of water. I sent photographs. I had another contractor come out, and they still denied me an appeal. They said that was their final answer. But i know i had more than six inches of water. How do you go against that . If you have photos, that becomes a question of fact. Dale or michael, get their card. We can help you if you feel as if you need to speak with fema. Let us see if we can help you. Yes. Trumps budget has no corps of engineer money for louisiana right now. So how can we [indiscernible] sen. Cassidy there will be money for the corps of engineers. Thank you. Let me get by. Thank you. This the situation. You are 72 years old. You had Flood Insurance. Your Mortgage Company took the Flood Insurance money to pay the mortgage off. You have to them not to do it because you needed to fix your house. They took it anyway. Youve got to restore louisiana, fema, everywhere you can go. Everywhere they turn you down. Now fema is saying weve got a trailer saying weve got a trailer fema is saying we are going to put you out of the trailer or make you pay rent. But everyone i went to for help has turned me down. Where do i go . Sen. Cassidy im sorry, i apologize. Ok. Bill, did you hear that . You want to comment, maam . It might be a peace a case where pats program can help you up at restore louisiana. As far as femas programs, we just get you safe and secure. It is not going to fix everything. In some cases you get turned down because you had insurance, but you can always appeal that. I have my folks in the back that can help you with that to look up your fema number and see if it is still appealable or not. Most people with Flood Insurance right now are not eligible for the restore program because we just didnt have enough money to cover everybody. I will tell you we just added the phase one people who have Flood Insurance. That is if you are low to moderate income and either elderly or have persons with disabilities living in your household, and you live outside the 100 year floodplain. You could be eligible. We are continuing to expand that eligibility as we get more money. Please fill out the survey. Dont give up on restore even if you are not eligible right now, which is likely. [inaudible] sen. Cassidy have you spoken to the restore people . If you would come see us at the table outside [inaudible] sen. Cassidy yes maam . Mr. Cassidy. Im really concerned about preexisting conditions and health care. Thats what i came for. [applause] i flooded also, but i want to know if you would vote for this health care that trump has right now. What can you do to stop this foolishness . [applause] sen. Cassidy when President Trump ran for office, President Trump said he wished that all continued to be covered, to care for those best to care for those with preexisting conditions, to illuminate the mandates from obamacare, and to lower premium to eliminate the mandates from obamacare, and to lower premiums. The current bill has not yet been revealed. The legislation you spoke of has been superseded. Frankly, we have not yet seen what the legislation will be upon which we voted upon which we will vote. Y . Why . Sen. Cassidy i do not defend the process. I dont. I just dont. On the other hand, what i can say is that the concern regarding preexisting conditions has been one that i have been expressing, and others have been expressing, and i would judge the final product as to how well it addresses the issue of existing conditions. I was going to wait until 15 till to take health care questions. Lets just see if there is one more Flood Insurance question. Yes maam, and the way back in the way back. [inaudible] sen. Cassidy what is the turnaround rate for restore louisiana . [inaudible] sen. Cassidy right. You said you are in phase three . The question is, she sent in her survey right at the very beginning, and she hasnt been invited to apply yet. I will restate we are going through all of our survey respondents in phases. The first phase is low to moderate income first two phases are low to moderate income people who are either elderly or have a person with disabilities living in our household. We sent out invitations to every single phase one and two survey completion already. We are about halfway through phase three. If you havent gotten an email from us and you filled out the survey, and our response says you are in phase three, you should be getting any mail from us inviting you to apply within the next couple of weeks. [indiscernible] thats right. [indiscernible] im sorry. Look, this recovery takes longer than anybody likes. I promise you that. The reason you are getting any mail every month is because we want to at least let people know where they are [inaudible] im sorry about the language. What really needs to tell you is we still have you in the system, and you are coming up. What i know is that we have sent what i know is that we have sent and that about half of phase is is is about half of phase three invitations out, so it is is not shocking to me that you are in phase three and havent and been invited to apply yet, but you should be in the next two weeks, if not one week. You should be getting an invitation within days saying, please come to let the application. You can do it online, help us online, you can do it at the Housing Assistance center. Some folks in phase three have already gotten that invitation and have filled out their application. Some folks have not. It is just a random process of selecting another 1000 and sending those invitations out. [inaudible] yes, absolutely. Sen. Cassidy this gentleman is a vietnam veteran we spoke with on the way and. Your question. Im a vietnam veteran, honorable discharge. Sen. Cassidy thank you very much for your service. [applause] i dont know how many of us in here were born and raised in this area. I know it has never been told on the news or whatever, but ive monitored this rain for years. The pump the water out of the Mississippi River into all the rain. They never put it on the news. Its manmade water, his heavenly water its heavenly water. When you pump water 180 miles out i had different family members that go out and check the canal. In an youve got a hole behind this church right here. Its real deep. I look at it. How can that water come all the way to flood you . We need to do something. It needs to be told this area was flooded. [inaudible] sen. Cassidy yes sir . [inaudible] senator, my question is, are you sure we are not going to be so short on the Louisiana Home Shelter Program . Im a contractor. The prime contractor i work for i am asking the senator, if we are not going to be so short like the Louisiana Home Shelter Program, i work as a contractor, and my bill was 11,000, and the state paid the prime contract of 146,000. I want to be sure if this program is going to be better than what happened in the home Shelter Program. [applause] sen. Cassidy governor edwards has put good people in charge of the program. I cant comment beyond the fact that we have worked on a federal level and governor edwards worked with us to try and get resources for our state. I will go back to the need to fill out surveys. If it turns out we need more money, the only way we would justify it is if we had enough folks fill out surveys to establish the need. Just to say that, we want it to be adequate. We will not know until it happens. The only way we can work towards that is if we all chip in. Lived like a community. Part of that is to establish that if you are one of those who have a need, even if youre need has already been addressed, for those who have not, have them addressed going forward. [inaudible] i am not screening them now. If you wish to chant and keep others from being able to speak or be heard, that is not civil. I ask you, respect the right of others to speak into be heard. Please. Senator, i have for insurance. I have hazard insurance. In i has flitted in i still have not gotten any help. Sen. Cassidy have you not been paid by the National Flood Insurance Program . I have not. This is a similar situation from when i first returned home. Five days later, the water is gone. There was just a little water standing. We thought that was the only water in the house. We learned, three weeks later, and that the water was actually in him and that the water was actually in the walls. It has been held since then. Hell since then. They had to cut the walls out. We have water lines. You can clearly see that. It has all stay the same. They say they have not denied of, but they have not paid either. We are coming up on one year. To have additional moneys out for litigation is horrible. It does not make any sense. I have not contacted fema, because i have Flood Insurance. The water that came from the ceiling, like ms. Johnson, the hazard insurance is saying, and well, we are going to apply the storm deductible. That is 20 of the value of my home. That was not that much damage from the ceiling. The major damage came in from the flood that the insurance should cover that is not coming. Is not covering. In sen. Cassidy if anyone knows how to use the legal system, it is you. Gentlemen come up one of you address that . The only thing i can add is that we have heard a lot of stories about folks not getting what they need from their insurance company. I know that southern moscow, lsu southern law school, lsu law school, and other Legal Services are providing free legal are are providing free Legal Services. [inaudible] but do they charge you, because these people do it for free . Get michaels contact, because in a sometimes just a call from the office makes a difference. Sir, you were raising her hand. Sen. Cassidy let me get the microphone here please. I want to thank you for coming out. What is your take on medicaid and allowing the states to control certain parts of [indiscernible] we have a serious problem in louisiana with health care. Sen. Cassidy that is a broad question that we can address. Thank you, sir. We dont know over the final bill will end up. Lets talk about what we currently have. The Medicaid Expansion has been a lot of money for louisiana. Let me describe house that has worked how that has worked. For the first few years, the federal taxpayer, which is us through our federal taxes, have been paying 100 of the cost. That begins to change, i think it isnext year. Senator urging barrow, thank you for being here. I think it is next year we begin paying 5 or maybe this year. By 2020, we louisiana taxpayers will be responsible for 10 of the cost for the Medicaid Expansion. Period, to when the federal government decided to pay 100 , predictably, state spends a lotof money. It was not their money. It was the federal governments money. The way to illustrate that come in traditional medicaid, what we have before the expansion, the combined amount of money at the state and federal government put up was 4300 per person. Under the Medicaid Expansion, the combined amount of money that a state typically puts up is 6,300. It is 50 more than the traditional medicaid. Now, many of those in the expansion are working. They are healthy about the work. They are not sicker. It turns out, state paid a lot more. They put a lot of people into the program, too. Why do i go through that explanation . To establish that when the of louisiana begins to have to put up 10 of the cost of the expansion, it is going to be a lot of money. It will be 310 million a year. That is going to be in addition to the amount currently spent. Not just our state. In california, their 10 is 2. 2 billion a year. That is just 10 . Now the point i make two folks is that our status quo is not really sustainable. In oregon and arkansas, a blue state and a red state, both expanding medicaid, state have recommended either completely getting rid of the expansion or pulling it back to 100 of the federal poverty level, the eligibility, because their states cannot afford that have percent them will be required in 2020. [inaudible] [applause] sen. Cassidy again, if we be civil. [inaudible] sen. Cassidy again, sir, if i finish answering this gentlemans question. I believe i am answering pretty thoroughly. Tocontinue. So, to continue. The question is, how do we come up with a sustainable system . Sen. Cassidy Somebody Just yelled singlepayer. California suggested a singlepayer. California state budget is 200 billion for everything. Roads, universities, schools, medical. A singlepayer would cost their state 400 billion. It will be double the cost of their entire budget. I worked at a hospital for 25 years. And no offense to my friends who are at the state legislature or to myself, but you really do not want politicians controlling your health care [inaudible] sen. Cassidy please let me talk. No need to be rude. When you find that if the patient has the power, the system lines up. We wish we could get democrats. We cant, unfortunately. States will what is best for their state. If california love status quo, they that. If it is not working for louisiana, louisiana would have the ability to something different. Then we do tax reconciliation, which is coming next. That is when all of this can be addressed. Folks are going about the taxes. [inaudible] sen. Cassidy with that said, than the question is, what about medicaid itself . If you robot Medicaid Eligibility rollback Medicaid Eligibility and put folks on private insurance, that can be a good thing. If your credit is adequate for the private insurance let me go back to Medicaid Expansion in louisiana. In louisiana, we are not spending 6,300 per person. 6,700 perding person, which is more than a Blue Cross Blue Shield policy would cost. Of the same kind of benefit structure. We are spending more in louisiana Medicaid Expansion been blue cross. Medicaid expansion in louisiana is spending blue cross rates. As a woman told me, her daughter is expansion and would like to continue. Timeaid, i have a hard finding doctors that will see a medicaid patient. That is because medicaid rates the doctors typically less than their cost to seeing patients. So she struggled to do that. If we can take patients who are currently on medicaid and put them on private insurance, i think that is better. Secondly, some of the patients who have been on the Medicaid Expansion are actually employed and have the option to have insurance through their employer. In this case, taxpayers are paying for somebodys Health Insurance when they could, indeed, be getting it through their employer. We has taxpayers may decide we want to give a subsidy to someone who could give there get their insurance from their employer, but we will pay higher taxes and there will be less money for roads, drink, higher education, and secondary education. [rowdy crowd noise] that said it is a funny i am being thorough. I am being criticized for not being thorough. If we can have access to care that is truly meaningful, going back to President Trumps campaign pledge, which is care for preexisting conditions, eliminate mandate, lower premiums, that would be good. Maam, what would you like to ask . That, ild like to say filled up the survey and i got called in to do the interview. I got there, i did the interview on the same day i was in the office. E was a sign that said sen. Cassidy you are speaking of what program . I signed the paper and was told that nobody else could come in and do any work until they come out and assess the house. The same day when i was in the office, i had another catholic that putting improvements to my house. I expend them they could not come out until i explained to them they could not come out. I let her talk to the people in the office. They told me they will pull my file and they would be first to come up. House sod assess my they could start the work. I know you know all the rain that has been coming this week. The work that has a ready been done is getting damaged because of the leak coming from the roof. My question is, why does it take so long and why is it that they say nobody else can come help until they come when they are not even coming on time . Charitabley is a organization is coming and doing work and not charging you for that, there is no reason for you not to let them do that. We will address that was training at our folks. That should not be the case. The only thing federal rules say is that if you go to work after you apply, we cannot reimburse you for that. That is why they ask you to stop. Taking four weeks to get from application to an expansion an inspection does not make sense to me, other than we are just ramping up the inspectors staff in the last three weeks. If i could get information from you, we will check and see where you are. Your inspection and evaluation of the loss should happen then happen in the next week or two. Yes, maam. Yes, sir. You for coming today. I want to talk about 2. 2 meter earlier. Two point you made earlier. The first point about why obama did not the did not get the recovery money. The congress stopped that money. [applause] you are saying the people who who are speaking out came to ask questions about health care, because they will be affected. Youre saying they are rude. What is rude is kicking 22 Million People off of their health care in this country who you know cant afford it. [applause] you were to the hospital for a long time. At know what people are like their lowest. To step on their next by taking them off of their health care at this point, that is cruel. [applause] do is goou need to back to washington dc and stand up for the people who are here and say, we need our help care. [applause] sen. Cassidy i am doing my best. Can eliminatee mandate and lower premiums. That is my commitment, and that is why i am working toward. Thank you. Including that. We are almost 10 minutes past the end time. Folks there will be frustrated, because you did not ask, but we try to take as many questions as possible. Scattered around. We have another town hall meeting later. The giver coming. Most of all, thank you for coming. Most of all, i thank you so much for coming. As the pastor started off, this is our democracy inaction. Thank you for country bidding to thats democracy. Thank you. [rowdy crowd noise] [applause] health care was a major topic on talk shows today. The president also got the attention on social media. We heard from officials, including senator cassidy, who was on meet the press. Ever focused cannot be on the tweet. It has to be on the kitchen 20, 30,mily paying 40,000 for their pictures premiums. We in washington, we in the country, cannot be focused on tweets. We have to be focused on answering that families problems. I get so frustrated when we get focused on tweets. I hate to think about these families are you frustrated with the president . You say you are frustrated with the focus on the tweets. But the president doesnt make my life. Im a conservative. I wake up in the morning and read about the lsu tigers. We do have a focus on family, not on the president tweets. Does the president make it harder for the democrats to work with them . He makes it harder for himself. I have been trained as a leader since being a boy scout and naval shipment. One of the things they taught us early on in the navy is, treat other people the way you want to be treated. Leaders do not put other people down. Leaders must run themselves with the best people they can find. Everything i was trained i was a leader. This man is none of those things. I look at it and shake my head. It harder for him to recruit people, he having a hard time filling dishes. I was told by the senator from wyoming that we are just not getting names out of these 600 positions, we have had 100 names because people do not want to work for him. If we can bring Market Forces to bear, we can bring down costs for middleclass americans. But if we cannot get that done, push forught to do is repeal and embark on a stepbystep process to decide what comes next. This is consistent with every republican who has campaigned for federal office has promised to do. This is what we ought to be doing now if we cannot save this effort. Agree on itannot repeal and replacement option at the moment, what would they in the future . If we passed a measure repealing obamacare, but a delayed implementation measure in there, with the understanding that after passing the repeal measure, we would undertake the stepbystep process of what comes next. Its easier. When you lump too many things into one piece of legislation, you doom its likelihood of success. I think that explains what trump is talking about in his tweet the other day. His series of communications on friday. Worth considering, consistent with what i thought would be better, a more likely to succeed legislative strategy. Leader mcconnell is the leader on this bill and its in repealt week that we can and replace. Cant, every republican senator except one, Susan Collins of maine, is the only republican senator who has not already repeatedly explained they are for repeal and replace and voted for repeal. Every republican senator except Susan Collins, everybody voted for a repeal plan. The only thing that was, president obama veto it. Now President Trump would sign it. I would at a delay so that if we did full repeal, there would be time, but we should get to work on replace. We should be trying to get 50 of 52 to agree on a combined repeal and replace land. Lets do the repeal and that get 60 out of 100 senators. Do this fulltime, 18 hours a day, cancel the august state work parade and do it in full public view and have hearings and get to work on Something Better than obamacare. The American People deserve that. The idea to repeal obamacare and replace at a later date, something even the president suggested it. Would that even fly . Leader mcconnell is saying thanks, but no thanks. Senators supported repeal. They knew it would never become law. To go backmessaging to your constituents and say i voted for it. They are committed to knowing how much obamacare has failed. Its only gotten worse. Premiums gotten higher. In 18 counties in nevada, 14 have no insurer next year. Its a true crisis and we need to do something. Dean heller was a saying no way would i cited. Dean heller voted for that effort and their placement part is too difficult for republicans to come together. Lets take care of the first step. There is another member, todd young, who voted for the bill. You have 50 members on record having voted for that. At that point, you can come back with a replacement effort to be more bipartisan. Unfoldsn, where history really. In 1979, cspan was created as a Public Service by americas Cable Television companies. Its brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. The president of south korea visited President Trump last week. On friday, he attended a wreath laying ceremony with Vice President pence. Just under 10 minutes. We will now have the presentation of colors