Landry defines priorities as tax cuts, health care

Jeff Landry touted national change, job growth and a healthier economy in his platform during the race for the 3rd Congressional District seat for the midterm elections, and it paid off when the Republican was elected by a 64-36 percent margin.

The newly elected Congressman was anxious as the results were relayed to him.

“I tried to wait until we got almost all our precincts in to make that determination,” Landry said. “It was a very humbling feeling.”

Only a month and a half separates him from being Congressman-elect and his installation, and the New Iberia resident is already thinking about his first acts once he joins the House of Representatives.

The Bush Tax Cuts, which set the tax-rate cap at 35 percent and are favorable to big business, are set to expire at the end of 2010. Many Republicans, Landry included, believe extending the cuts is the key to fostering job growth.

“I’d like to see the current Congress come back in the lame duck session and finish up their business, which would include extending those tax cuts,” Landry said. “If they don’t want to pick it up, I certainly look forward to taking a look as soon as we’re able to take office.”

Health care reform passed by the Democrat legislature, also known as Obamacare, has also been criticized as being hard on businesses.

“I think that it is incumbent upon the Republican leadership and for us to work through a health care repeal bill and have it on the floor of the House and get it voted on,” Landry said. “I think it will pass and then we’ll send it on to the Senate.”

A national issue localized approaching in 2011 will be the redistricting of representative seats. Landry said he is a proponent of keeping the 3rd Congressional District in tact and how it is, but believes it will expand into District 6 or District 7 if it is changed.

“First of all, I’d like to see the district maintained in the current fashion that it’s set up in,” he said. “I think that there is an opportunity out there to do that. That is something I’ve already had conversations with our state leaders in the legislature and the state government and told them that my wishes are to see that the 3rd Congressional District stay as intact as it possibly can.

“I think that the current makeup of the state legislature and again, those federal laws that are going to in cases control redistricting are going to make it more likely that the district is going to shift towards the west rather than shift towards the east.”

That would come as good news to Tri-parish residents. If part of the district were absorbed to the east, into District 2, many believe that problems facing Terrebonne and Lafourche would be placed on the back burner while the larger city of New Orleans is accommodated.

That paranoia is not unwarranted, as evidenced by the allocation of flood protection federal money in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans received billions of dollars for levee repairs while the South Lafourche levees were decertified due in part to a lack of funding.

Landry’s seat is one of 60 the Republicans claimed over the Democrats.

“I think it means that the American people sent a clear signal to Washington that it’s time for them to make the fundamental changes to Washington that politicians for years have been campaigning on,” Landry said. “I think it means it’s time for Washington to get to work for the American people rather than for the people working for Washington.”

Regarding his own successful campaign, Landry is quick to dole out the credit to his supporters.

“I’m a staunch believer that there’s not one individual responsible for this win,” he said. “It was our ability to move a message that we believed in and that resonated with the voters and then we had a tremendous amount of volunteers and donors and activists who got involved in this campaign.

“I’ve always asked every time I’ve got an opportunity to be quoted in the paper that I was looking for everyone who was interested in changing the direction of this country to please vote for me, and I’d like to believe that’s the message the voters sent to us on Tuesday.”