Since my election to the Senate, I’ve made keeping in touch with Louisiana residents my top priority. In order to best hear about issues important to you, I made a pledge to hold a town hall meeting in all 64 parishes every Congress. I’m proud to say I hosted my 64th town hall meeting last Friday. Thanks very much to everyone who has attended and for staying in touch, and if you haven’t been able to attend, I’ll be having plenty more in the near future. Click here to read my column: Town Hall Meetings, The Best Way to Communicate.

Please continue reading below to learn more about some of the ways I’ve been working to bring Louisiana common-sense to Washington this month.

Sincerely,
 
 
David Vitter
United States Senator

Highlights from the past month (click the hyperlinks for more information):

Remembering Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Every year, breast cancer affects tens of thousands of women throughout the United States, and the chance of a woman contracting this disease in her lifetime is one in eight. As a child, my wife Wendy lost her mother to this disease. Her loss serves as a constant reminder of how important it is to increase early detection and preventive screenings, and expand access to care for this disease that affects so many of our family, friends and neighbors. 

I’ve been working on several initiatives in Congress to fight the disease, like my legislation to expand access to mobile mammography services. Click here to read more about this legislation and other issues to make sure that women battling breast cancer aren’t denied access to life-saving screenings or treatment that may extend their lives and their time with loved ones.

Video Spotlight: Holding the Megabanks Accountable

In my ongoing effort to prevent taxpayer funded bailouts, I joined with Senator Sherrod Brown a Democrat from Ohio to ask Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to increase the amount of capital that megabanks have to keep, so they don’t rely on a bailout as a safety net. If a huge bank wants to provide loans and investments for billions of dollars, then they should be required to keep a certain amount of reserves on hand to absorb any rapid or sudden market turns. Louisiana families certainly have to keep emergency savings – why shouldn’t these megabanks? Click here to read our letter to Chairman Bernanke.
 
Click here to watch my recent interview on CNBC where I discuss capital requirements for megabanks.

ICYMI: Dodd-Frank's Heavy Hand but Slight Value, by Sen. Vitter (Wall Street Journal)

Earlier this month, I wrote an editorial in The Wall Street Journal addressing the type of systematic financial reform we need in order to lessen the crushing burden of hyper-detailed, often unclear or conflicting over-regulation – which include requiring a higher capital ratio for megabanks. Click here to read my article.

Vitter, Sen. Environment Committee Hold Oil Spill Clean-Up Briefing

Cleaning up the BP oil-spill is some of the most significant environmental work of our lifetime. I hosted an official Senate Environment and Public Works Committee briefing on the status of the oil-spill clean-up efforts. It’s clear there is still a lot to be done, and we need to prevent BP from walking away from the clean-up before it's complete. Click here to watch my interview on WWL-TV regarding the briefing.

Announcing New Alexandria Office

My staff and I were very excited to open a brand new Central Louisiana regional office in Alexandria this month. It’s one of seven regional offices around Louisiana, and I’m the only U.S. Senator from Louisiana to have a regional office in Alexandria. My regional offices are here to here to assist with federal agencies like the Veterans Administration, Social Security Administration, getting your Medicare and Medicaid or even getting your passport. Click here for a complete listing of my regional offices.