Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) has lifted his hold on the nomination of Craig Fugate to serve as the next FEMA director, ending a holdup criticized by the White House, Senate Democrats and some of Vitter’s Republican colleagues as an unnecessary delay fueled by campaign politics.
Vitter held up a full Senate vote on Fugate amid a dispute with FEMA about its rejection of three construction projects on flood-prone Grande Isle, La. The senator first sought information on the agency’s rejections of the project more than two months ago and said he had not yet received sufficient answers. Under Senate rules, any senator can hold up a nomination for whatever reason and can choose to do so anonymously.
“Louisianans have gotten way too many easy spoken assurances from FEMA over the last four years that didn’t mean anything,” Vitter said in a statement this morning. “Now that I’ve secured a specific written commitment from them on the V-Zone issue, we can move forward.” He said he is “very confident” the issue will be resolved soon.
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