U.S. Rep. David Vitter, R-La., who is currently running for U.S. Senator John Breaux’s, D-La., seat, told the Nicholls community he could give Louisiana an extra edge in national discussions on higher education funding and coastal restoration projects through his working relationship with the White House and his membership to the majority party. Vitter’s informal question and answer session Friday in Le Bijou Theater, which attracted an audience of about 20 people consisting of mostly faculty and staff members, was part of his state-wide campaign bus tour in preparation for the November elections. Vitter also met with University President Stephen Hulbert to discuss the University’s priorities and programs.

Vitter, who is currently Louisiana’s only member of the House Appropriations and Budget Committees, said he hopes to get on the Senate Appropriations Committee to continue pushing for federal funding to help Louisiana colleges. Vitter said while serving on the committee, he has been involved in the current debate about the reauthorization of federal higher education legislation to make sure higher education is as accessible as possible.

” My main focus is that the cost of higher education has been increasing and so access is a crucial challenge,” he said. “Sometimes it is a tough challenge to meet because we increase Pell grants and it seems like that just fuels tuition increases. We need to find a way to hold that down and provide resources to students to afford that access.”

Vitter said he has also been working to get funding for important projects on Louisiana college campuses such as technology enhancements, health related research and post-graduation job programs. He said the key strategy is to develop the strengths of each campus with federal money.

“Today’s economy is very knowledge and technology based,” he said. “Our intellectual assets (universities) are enormously important job creation assets. To me they are to today’s economy what the river and the railroad were to the 19th century economy.”

Vitter, who was elected to Congress in 1999, said he thinks he is the best candidate because he has built a record of being outspoken and independent, has bottom line effectiveness and best represents mainstream Louisiana values in the national debate on crucial issues.

Vitter said he supports the war in Iraq, the troops in the fields and the U.S. President’s leadership. He said the Iraqi situation was an unacceptable risk to leave in a post-Sept. 11 world.

He said: “I would vote to send more troops to Iraq if it were necessary to stabilize the country. We need to succeed in doing that for our own security and for the war on terrorism. It’s not obvious to me that that will be the right answer. Sometimes we just need more troops to control more trouble spots, but sometimes sending more Americans is sending more targets there.”

On another topic that stirred student debate at Nicholls last semester, Vitter said he is a strong supporter and co-author of the proposed federal constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between a man and a woman. He said a constitutional amendment is necessary to protect and lift up traditional values.

“I do not rush to amend the Constitution ever, but I do think it is necessary on this issue, because you do have laws in other states that have allowed and made legal homosexual marriage. Under the full faith and credit clause, other states I believe are bound to recognize those marriages,” he said.

Vitter also spoke on his role in fighting for coastal erosion. He said he is hopeful that there will be an announcement from the Bush administration soon of a plan with concrete aspects to begin the projects.

Vitter said he has been pushing five points, which he hopes are included in the administration’s plan. They include: releasing the Louisiana Coastal Area study findings, pushing for the plan to be significant in terms of federal dollars, pushing up project start dates, including diversion projects in the plan and recognizing that this is a start and not the end of Louisiana’s struggle to build up the coastline.