DENHAM SPRINGS – Congressman Garret Graves on Thursday blasted the federally funded Restore Louisiana program for its sluggish award distribution for 2016 flood victims in Livingston and other parishes.The congressman made his comments during the March 29 meeting of the Kiwanis Club of Denham Springs.Restore Louisiana has doled out only $60 million of the $1.7 billion flood recovery… Read more »
After championing progress made toward improving U.S. infrastructure and the economy, U.S. Rep. Garret Graves said some areas in Congress and nationwide are "still broken"—like the growing national debt, the ongoing health care and gun debates and rampant political divisiveness, which he calls the biggest threat to our country. Graves, speaking today to the Rotary Club of Baton… Read more »
Louisianans hit by floods in 2016 will want to dust off their old tax returns from that year to tap new deductions and cash in on hundreds of millions of federal tax relief dollars for those who saw homes, cars and other property ruined by rising waters.Two changes wrapped in December's GOP-backed tax cuts will let those hit by that year's devastating March and August floods write off far… Read more »
Congressman Graves recently sat down with Parish President Larry Cochran on St. Charles Parish Today television show to discuss their drainage issues, flood protection and the National Flood Insurance Program. Click here to view. Read more »
Elected officials from coastal states took disparate views over the Trump administration's proposal to open more than 90% of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) to oil and natural gas exploration, which garnered more than 630,000 public comments. Most of the comments appeared to be in opposition to the draft proposed program (DPP) for the OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program for… Read more »
In 2017, Congressman Graves introduced H.R. 2849, the Louisiana Flood and Storm Devastation Act of 2017, which would grant homeowners and individuals emergency tax relief. Graves and others successfully fought to ensure that these disaster-related, tax relief provisions were included in the major tax reform legislation recently enacted. Now, the IRS has released its guidance for this… Read more »
Livingston Parish faces an interesting conundrum in the upcoming years. The debate will center around one question -- were we ready?For what, you may ask? Growth.As lawmakers descend upon Baton Rouge for a special session, called by Gov. John Bel Edwards to address the $1.6 billion fiscal cliff, it will be interesting to see how many deals get made during that time ... if any, as today's… Read more »
Friday, February 9, 2018LAFAYETTE, LA – Attorney General Jeff Landry, with the support of Congressman Garret Graves, announced a lawsuit today against the Corps of Engineers."The decline of Louisiana's coastline over the past 50 years has been a constant issue for Louisiana," said General Landry. "Unfortunately, the creation of the Intracoastal Waterway by the Corps has exasperated… Read more »
The White House's proposed budget takes the ax to a wide range of domestic programs, but unlike in past years, federal oil money that funds Louisiana's coastal restoration efforts isn't on the chopping block.Both President Donald Trump and his predecessor, Barack Obama, proposed tearing up an agreement that sends a share of federal royalties from offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico… Read more »
Congressman Garret Graves (R-South Louisiana) advanced bipartisan legislation this week that would simplify an important – but archaic – process Americans endure to authorize their elected representatives to step in when FEMA, the Social Security Administration, the IRS, Medicare, the VA and other agencies of the federal bureaucracy aren't providing the level of customer… Read more »
