U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., voted against lifting the federal debt ceiling. He explained why in a press conference call on Tuesday and announced Amtrak’s application for $11.5 million in federal funding under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). Monies will be used for the Crescent long distance travel train route extension into North Louisiana.

In a 63-36 vote an hour before midnight on June 1, the Senate passed legislation to lift the debt ceiling. Senator Bill Cassidy was among the 36 and voted against the deal not because of the way it was negotiated, but because of the way it would be implemented, allowing for plenty of loopholes which “neutered the beneficial effects,” he said.

In an earlier press release from his office, he said that “Despite all the budget gimmicks in this bill, it cuts vital defense spending and barely decreases debt.”

An estimated $400 billion of that debt won’t be transferred to taxpayers. After August 2023, student loan payments will be off “pause.” Last week Congress passed Cassidy’s resolution to overturn what the Senator described as the “reckless (student) loan cancellation scheme.” Cassidy said the pause on payments that began because of the pandemic was being continued not because of the pandemic but because of politics.”

“Make no mistake, these reckless student loan schemes do not ‘forgive’ debit. They transfer the burden from those who willingly took out loans for college in order to make more money when they graduated, to Americans who never attended college or already fulfilled their commitment to pay off their loans,” Cassidy said.

Cassidy announced a new way to travel and grow the economy in the northern part of the State, a direct result of the IIJA. In as little as three years, an Amtrak passenger train could be rolling through north Louisiana with stations proposed in Monroe, Shreveport-Bossier, Ruston and Vicksburg, Mississippi.

When completed, the extension of the Amtrak Crescent from Mississippi through Louisiana to Texas will connect Louisiana’s I-20 corridor with Atlanta and Dallas, according to Cassdidy. to “more fully integrate North Louisiana into the broader America economy, increasing opportunity along the I-20 corridor.”

These are investments that increase jobs and help families, he said. Couples can choose to live in one city and work in two different cities. The commuter on the Crescent won’t be hampered by traffic delays.

“When someone comes from Dallas to Shreveport, they can work the whole day, including during the train ride, do their business and turn around and go home at the end of the day. Commerce will more likely occur. Better connected communities grow.”

He also announced a new, direct flight from Baton Rouge to Washington DC, one of the outcomes of the IIJA.

Cassidy continues to push for FEMA to be more transparent and use common sense with its new Risk Rating 2.0, and prevent the drastic increases in flood premium payments. “Eighteen percent is way too much,” he said. “Look at the regulations. The new risk ratings do not credit slab-built houses situated on hills or with three-feet berms, for example.

“If the President wished, with a stroke of the pen he could repeal this, but he doesn’t choose to do so. The far left likes these high insurance premiums because they think it prevents people from living in flood zones and I’m saying there are people who have never flooded who are seeing these sorts of premium increases that are on fixed incomes and you’re sticking it to them and it’s making it unaffordable for them to keep their homes. These are unintended consequences that the administration seems to be unaware of.”