page_title: David Vitter
section_title: Hurricane Katrina
hierarchical_section_title: David Vitter / United States Senate / Tenure / Hurricane Katrina
caption_attribution_description: Louisiana Senator David Vitter, left, discusses Hurricane Katrina relief efforts with Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld as they walk through the airport in New Orleans, La., Sept, 4, 2005. Defense Dept. photo by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Kevin J. Gruenwald
context_page_description: David Bruce Vitter is an American lobbyist, lawyer, and politician who served as United States Senator for Louisiana from 2005 to 2017.
  A Republican, Vitter served in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1992 to 1999. He then represented Louisiana's 1st congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1999 to 2005.
  Vitter was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004. He was the first Republican elected to the Senate from his state since the Reconstruction Era. In 2007, Vitter admitted to and apologized for past involvement with a Washington, D.C. escort service. In 2010, Vitter won a second Senate term by defeating a Democrat, then U.S. Representative Charlie Melancon.
  Vitter unsuccessfully ran for governor to succeed the term-limited Bobby Jindal in the 2015 gubernatorial election. He lost the general election to Democrat John Bel Edwards. After conceding defeat to Edwards, Vitter announced that he would not seek reelection to his Senate seat in 2016 and would retire from office at the completion of his term. Following the conclusion of his second Senate term, Vitter became a lobbyist.
context_section_description: In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Vitter and the rest of the Louisiana congressional delegation worked to bring aid to the Gulf Coast region to rebuild broken levees, schools and hospitals, restore coastal wetlands, and provide assistance for its many victims.
  In early September, Vitter said that he would give "the entire big government organized relief effort a failing grade, across the board." He said that state and local governments shared in the blame as well. Vitter's actions during Hurricane Katrina are described in historian Douglas Brinkley's May 2006 book, The Great Deluge.
  In September 2007, Vitter announced that he got "a critical concession" from the White House that decreased Louisiana's obligations for hurricane recovery by $1 billion. However, the White House said that was false.
caption: Senator Vitter discussing relief efforts with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
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