Louisiana delegation faces hurdles in fight for more federal disaster aid

As the flood response in Louisiana turns from rescue to recovery, the role the federal government -- and especially federal dollars -- will play is set to become the focus in coming weeks.

The fight for federal disaster recovery dollars is often a hard one. And while it's a familiar one for Louisiana, the state enters this round without some of the advantages it had in the past and with some new liabilities that could complicate its appeal to representatives of other states.

Louisiana's delegation could find itself seeking hundreds of millions of dollars for unmet needs just a few years after several of its members spurned such requests in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy in 2012. And the delegation, which has few senior members, will be calling for cash from a tight-fisted Republican Congress during an exceptionally heated election season that will end with at least two and possibly three of its members leaving Capitol Hill.

So far, the state's presumed ace in the hole, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, has not publicly said where he stands on any attempt to wrangle his fellow Republicans to provide disaster aid for the state that goes above and beyond what FEMA typically provides.

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