In the News

 The U.S. House of Representatives in an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote approved nearly $8 billion in Hurricane Harvey relief funds Wednesday on Capitol Hill. The bill marks the first of several relief packages planned to help with the widespread damage across southeastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana. The 419-3 vote will move the bill forward to the Senate, where the… Read more »

With federal disaster coffers stretched to the seams, the U.S. House of Representatives quickly passed a bill Wednesday to infuse $7.9 billion in disaster aid without taking amendments, pushing off a number of persistent questions about several federal disaster recovery policies. Wrinkles in federal disaster regulations that have maddened victims of the 2016 Louisiana floods —… Read more »

The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed $7.9 billion in Hurricane Harvey disaster relief as warring Republicans and Democrats united behind help for victims of that storm as an ever more powerful new hurricane bore down on Florida. The 419-3 vote sent the aid package — likely the first of several — to the Senate in hopes of sending the bill to President Donald Trump… Read more »

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Zach Wilson is the Keithville native who went on a mission trip in March to Guatemala, but was detained at the airport for having hunting ammunition in his bag.  He spent three months in Guatemalan prison and now waits on house arrest for trial that won't start until February. His wife Lisa and Congressman Mike Johnson are working to bring him home. "It still could be potentially… Read more »

The importance of a bipartisan effort for a stronger, more efficient National Flood Insurance Program was made plain this week in Houston. It's been made plain before, too, in New Orleans and Biloxi in 2005; Lake Charles in 2005 and 2008; Lafayette and Monroe in 2016. It was made clear on the Jersey shore in 2012. It was made clear, too, in 1927 across Louisiana.… Read more »

Sen. John Kennedy made a stop in Bossier City Thursday morning as part of the Bossier Chamber of Commerce’s Government Relations Seminar Series at CSRA. Kennedy gave his perspective from the Senate, defining his first year as a cross between ‘Mr. Smith Goes to Washington’ and ‘The Gong Show.’ “It’s been very interesting. You have good days, you… Read more »

_ Lawmakers from Louisiana and Texas, who return to Congress next week, are already gearing up to ask for federal disaster aid in the aftermath of Harvey. “In terms of financial assistance from the federal government, there’s no doubt that that will be necessary,’’ said Rep. Mike Johnson, whose district includes Shreveport, which is expected to be hard hit.… Read more »

It's cliché now to suggest that our national politics need more civility. It's cliché because it's been true for a long while. The sun rises each morning, our politicians snipe and swipe and fight. Repeat, repeat, repeat. So it's tempting to dismiss U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson's "commitment to civility" pledge as the quixotic pursuit of a well-intentioned, but naive… Read more »

Sen. John Kennedy made a stop in Bossier City Thursday morning as part of the Bossier Chamber of Commerce’s Government Relations Seminar Series at CSRA. Kennedy gave his perspective from the Senate, defining his first year as a cross between ‘Mr. Smith Goes to Washington’ and ‘The Gong Show.’ “It’s been very interesting. You have good days, you… Read more »