Free Republic

This newspaper makes the following recommendations for Tuesday's ballot. CONGRESS U.S. Senate David Vitter Much of Sen. Vitter's first term in the Senate came in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the levee breaches that left 80 percent of New Orleans under water. The senator fought hard to hold the Army Corps of Engineers accountable and to get recovery resources for South Louisiana, including vital funding for coastal restoration. He was a leader in the push to finally close the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, the corps-built waterway that contributed to the devastation during Katrina. He also played an important role in...

New Orleans Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao supported President Barack Obama more often than any of his fellow House Republicans in 2009. The statistic isn't surprising given that Cao, who defeated embattled incumbent Rep. William Jefferson in December 2008, represents one of the nation's most heavily Democratic districts and faces a strong challenge as he seeks a second term this fall. According to a report by Congressional Quarterly, Cao supported Obama's position 68 percent of the time last year, including casting the only GOP vote for the Democrats' health-care legislation. On average, House Republicans supported the president only 26 percent of...

WASHINGTON -- The day after President Barack Obama urged Congress to quit bickering and enact health-care reform, Republicans on Capitol Hill said his trillion-dollar plan would be enacted on the back of Medicare recipients and sound the death knell of Medicare Advantage. "That program will be killed off," Rep. John Fleming, R-Minden, one of three doctors in the Louisiana delegation, said on the House floor Thursday. Medicare Advantage is an option utilized by one in five Medicare beneficiaries. More than 145,000 Louisianians are enrolled in the program, which provides additional benefits, from glasses and hearing aids to preventive care services,...

U.S. Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao faced a tough crowd at the Westwego Community Center on Tuesday night, with skeptics of President Barack Obama's efforts to overhaul the health care system cheering for the least amount of government involvement in the health insurance sector. Cao, R-New Orleans, spent the first 20 minutes of the hourlong town hall forum explaining the basics of the various bills, trying to dispel confusion and anger about "death panels," mandated health plans and other issues that have been raised at similar town hall meetings across the country. "It is controversial because right now, with respect to...

In a public forum defined as much by passionate declarations on abortion as by statements about health care policy intricacies, U.S. Rep. Ahn "Joseph" Cao, R-New Orleans, said Thursday that he "leans" toward supporting the House Democrats' vision of a medical system overhaul provided it won't pay for procedures to end pregnancy. "The word is 'leaning,' " he repeated to about 150 people gathered at an Irish Channel Neighborhood Association meeting, the first of four planned public forums for Cao during the August recess. Besides the abortion caveat, Cao further tempered his statement with his concerns about how major policy...