I needed to explain that Louisiana's coast accepts the drainage from two-thirds of the United States and, while the necessary levees constructed upstream have prevented floods, they have also contributed to problems downstream.

And the issues I think are important in Louisiana right now happen to be health care and education. And those are two areas that the federal government can play a very important role. And I think I can be effective in trying to help our state from the Washington scene.

Our struggle is to identify the sources of revenue and the means to obtain the funds.Without funds, all the planning and research studies can't help us.

I object to you using words like squander and pork. What is pork in one part of the country is an essential project in another part.

I needed to explain that Louisiana's coast accepts the drainage from two-thirds of the United States and, while the necessary levees constructed upstream have prevented floods, they have also contributed to problems downstream.

I am going to work with Tom Daschle. And I'll work with the Republican leaders and the president to try and come up with something that we can all be proud of.

I put myself and all the members of Congress in the same boat of things that could have been done better.