WASHINGTON -- U.S. Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., having not left the U.S. Capitol complex since very early Thursday morning, returned to the Senate floor today to again urge Senate Republicans to provide local governments affected by Hurricane Katrina with the immediate assistance they need -- without unprecedented strings attached.

Fulfilling her commitment to employ all options available to ensure that the Senate took action on immediate Hurricane Katrina relief and recovery needs before breaking for a one-week Columbus Day recess, Sen. Landrieu spoke on the Senate floor for much of the day yesterday, delaying a vote on the Defense Appropriations bill.

By late Thursday, the Senate was debating a White House proposal advanced by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and Senator David Vitter, R-La., which would allow the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to apply $750 million toward providing community disaster loans for areas affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The money would come out of $43 billion the agency has left unspent of the nearly $62 billion appropriated to it by Congress last month, and was an increase over the White House's "last and best" offer of $300 million on Wednesday -- before Sen. Landrieu took to the floor for much of Wednesday evening into all day Thursday.

The loans are intended to help local governments cover payroll and operation costs, despite having lost significant tax revenue following the displacement of their residents.

"Three months, just three months," Sen. Landrieu said. "While we go on vacation again, just give them three months. Lend them some money to keep their lights on, to give their cities and their communities and the hospitals hope until we can figure out a long-range plan."

Holding the floor until 2 a.m. in a procedural stalemate where Republican leaders would not allow her to speak, Sen. Landrieu allowed the Senate to adjourn for six hours to allow staff to rest. During this time, she continued negotiations regarding the disaster loan program before retiring for a brief rest of her own on a Senate couch.

Returning to the floor with a one-hour speech early this morning, the senator highlighted several areas of serious concern regarding the Vitter-Frist bill. In particular, the bill specifically prohibits the federal government from ever forgiving the loans if communities are unable to pay them back. The U.S. Conference of Mayors today said that the group was "outraged" by the prohibition, which has never been enacted for any previous federal disaster loan, nor does it affect any future loans outside the hurricane-affected area.

"We now have a third-rate FEMA operating, a second class levee system, and now to pour salt on the wound, a tightfisted lending policy applied only to us," Sen. Landrieu said.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports that between 1974 and 1995, 20 of 52 community disaster loans given had been partially or completely forgiven, with only 13 loans having been fully repaid.

The Vitter-Frist bill also does not ensure that Louisiana sheriffs will be eligible for the loans. Unlike many states, Louisiana sheriffs are elected independently of local governments in the areas where they serve, and have their own independent tax authority. As a result, they do not fit within the definition of a "local government" by the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, the governing law which establishes the Community Disaster Loans program. Similarly, the bill does not ensure that three private, not-for-profit hospitals -- Ochsner, West Jefferson and East Jefferson -- will be eligible for loans, as they too fail to meet the Stafford Act requirements.

"An historian once described New Orleans as an inevitable city in an impossible location," Sen. Landrieu said. "I think that pretty much captures where we are today. We're having an inevitable debate that places the people of Louisiana and the Gulf Coast in an impossible situation. We ask for a loan, but get nothing but empty promises and tightfisted lending policies."

Despite repeated requests by Sen. Landrieu for guarantees that the sheriffs and hospitals would be included in the final legislation, Republican leaders refused to add any such guarantee to the bill. Sen. Landrieu also offered multiple compromise proposals to allow for the forgiveness of loans in dire circumstances, but each was rejected. Sens. Frist and Vitter said the forgiveness prohibition would be necessary in order to gain support for the measure from the U.S. House of Representatives, and that no compromise would be possible as a result. However, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., did agree to one compromise offering Thursday night to which Sen. Frist objected this morning.

"A compromise is an effort to do the best you can for people while preserving some important principles," Sen. Landrieu said. "This is no compromise. This is an agreement between the right wing and the far right wing. People who are holding the power and not willing to use it on behalf of people that need help in this nation."

The bill eventually passed in a unanimous consent vote today, with Sen. Landrieu providing her consent in order to assure the loan funds would be available to Louisiana communities, albeit with unfair strings attached.

Sen. Landrieu said: "I hope the people of Louisiana and the people that I've represented proudly for so long can understand why I spent the evening here and why I'm going to continue to stay at this desk as often as I can in between trips at home… Visiting with local elected leaders; trying to help organize meetings; supporting all the local officials -- Democrats and Republicans, black and white, urban and suburban, rich and poor -- to try to help us rebuild the state that's not only a state that we love, but a region that the country needs even though the country refuses to understand how valuable we are to them."

The Senate returns from its recess on Monday, October 17th.