GOP hopeful hits back on Katrina charges

Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) hit back Friday against charges from Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) that he let the state down in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

{mosads}He tweeted Friday a link to a Money magazine interview where he talks about setting up a “field hospital” for the injured.

Mary Landrieu wants to know where I was during Hurricane Katrina? Setting up a surge hospital for refugees. #LASEN http://t.co/YUVH0HKUc5

— Bill Cassidy (@BillCassidy) November 6, 2014

As the two candidates head into a heated campaign before the December runoff election, Landrieu is touting her support for disaster funding as proof that she’s been able to deliver for Louisianans. During an event at a new Veterans Affairs hospital in New Orleans, she slammed Cassidy for not supporting the hospital while in the state Senate and for voting against disaster relief after Hurricane Isaac.

“This is the time for Bill Cassidy to stand up and talk about his own pitiful record,” she said Wednesday during the event. “When Louisiana needed disaster aid, I was there. Where was Bill?”

Both the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic-aligned super-PAC American Bridge used the attacks on disaster funding and the VA hospital during the state’s primary election, hoping to paint Cassidy as out of touch.

Cassidy said during a debate that he didn’t vote for Isaac aid because he wanted that spending to be offset by cuts elsewhere. He’s also told The Wall Street Journal that he opposed a different plan by LSU and that Congress funded the VA hospital before he was elected.