Sen. Bill Cassidy Hopes Ida Damage Will Prompt GOP Colleagues to Back Infrastructure Bill

GOP Senator Bill Cassidy is making the case for House passage of the Senate-approved infrastructure bill after Hurricane Ida devastated his home state of Louisiana.

Speaking to CNBC's Squawk Box on Monday, Cassidy said he hoped the storm damage would prompt more of his colleagues on Capitol Hill to back the $1.2 trillion plan that awaits House of Representatives approval.

Cassidy noted that the legislation includes billions of dollars for infrastructure "resiliency" and hardening of the electrical grid, which he said would "certainly help" in Louisiana after Ida made landfall Sunday as a Category 4 hurricane.

The House is scheduled to vote on the bill by September 27. The Senate passed it earlier this month in a 69-30 vote.

"Where Republicans are, I don't know yet," Cassidy said. "But I'm sure hoping that Republicans look around my state, see this damage and say, 'If there's money for resiliency, money to harden the grid, money to help sewer and water, then maybe this is something we should be for.'"

The bill, which was negotiated by a bipartisan group of lawmakers along with President Joe Biden, includes $550 billion in new federal infrastructure investments over five years. It would also devote $65 billion to rebuild the electric grid, $55 billion to upgrade water infrastructure and $50 billion to make the infrastructure system more resilient against major climate events.

"We have to start preparing for next year's hurricane now," Cassidy wrote on Twitter.

While 19 Republican senators approved the bill, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told Fox News after the upper chamber's vote that he opposes the legislation in its current form. Former President Donald Trump has threatened to withhold endorsements for any lawmaker who backs the legislation. "Hopefully the House will be much stronger than the Senate," Trump said in a statement.

Newsweek reached out to McCarthy's office for comment on where House Republicans stand on the infrastructure bill but didn't receive a response before publication.

Hurricane Ida made landfall Sunday with 150 mph winds and heavy rainfall, causing widespread flooding and power outages. As of Monday, more than 1 million people were still without electricity.

The U.S. National Guard deployed roughly 5,300 members from four states to assist with rescue and relief efforts in the storm's aftermath.

At least one person has died because of the storm, and Governor John Bel Edwards said he expects the death toll to rise.

"We have one confirmed death," Edwards told the Today show. "I don't want to tell you what I'm hearing, because what I'm hearing points to a lot more than that. They're not yet confirmed, and I really don't want to go there. I will leave it here: I am certain that as the day goes on, we will have more deaths."