Posted on 01/27/2006 2:56:23 PM PST by WestTexasWend
The gloves are off.
In a very sharp statement, U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu responded to President Bush’s earlier comments during a Thursday press conference regarding Louisiana’s alleged lack of a rebuilding plan.
Earlier this week, President Bush said he did not support the Baker Bill which is named after Louisiana Republican Congressman Richard Baker and which the entire Louisiana delegation supports. Louisiana policy makers believe the plan would help solve one of Louisiana’s major post-Katrina and Rita problems—what to do with individual and whole neighborhoods totally or substantially destroyed by the hurricanes.
It is estimated that Louisiana has over 217,000 substantially damaged homes and money allocated for rebuilding Louisiana has been described by Louisiana leaders as totally inadequate. The Baker Plan would set up a mechanism that would allow for the paying part of the equity after collection of insurance, if any. It would assist the holders of the loans and be involved with the redevelopment process.
On Thursday, U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu strongly suggested that the problem is the Bush administration. Here are her comments:
U.S. Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., issued the following statement this afternoon in response to statements made by President George W. Bush today asserting that he is opposing the Baker Bill because the people of Louisiana have no plan to rebuild.
Sen. Landrieu said:
“Long before Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the levee breaks that followed, Louisiana proposed full funding for the hurricane protection and flood control that could help prevent such tragedies. But the administration opposed our plan, writing us a letter stating that this protection was not among the president’s top priorities. (Their letter is available from my office.)
“We proposed keeping our fair share of the offshore energy revenues we generate so that we could rebuild our wetlands – our first line of defense against hurricanes. But the White House actively lobbied against this plan too.
“And Congressman Richard Baker, R-Baton Rouge, proposed the Louisiana Recovery Corporation bill – an essential rebuilding tool that has earned bipartisan support in Louisiana and in Congress. But again, the president said no.
“The people of Louisiana have a plan. What we need is a willing, creative and enthusiastic partner in the federal government. We need the president to be our number one champion and not our number one obstacle.”
Here is also the statement by President Bush at his Thursday press conference:
Q I´m not trying -- I have a question about New Orleans, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: This is -- I agree with you. I can see the expressions on your colleagues´ faces that it´s --
Q Well, I hope it will be worth your time. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: They don´t think so. (Laughter.)
Q The administration has rejected a local plan to rebuild New Orleans, and your administrator down there, Don Powell, said that the focus for federal money should be to rebuild for those 20,000 homeowners who were outside the flood plain. Critics, local officials say that that ignores so many people in New Orleans, the poorest of the poor, the hardest hit areas, people who didn´t have flood insurance or didn´t expect the levees to break. And they feel, sir, that this is a certain betrayal of your promise that New Orleans would rise again. So why did you reject it? And do you think that the people of New Orleans have to expect that there is a limit for the extent to which the city can be rebuilt?
THE PRESIDENT: The Congress has appropriated $85 billion to help rebuild the Gulf Coast. And that is a good start; it´s a strong start; it´s a significant commitment to the people whose lives were turned upside down by that -- by those -- by that hurricane.
Secondly, we have said that we look forward to the time when each state develops its recovery plan. I, early on in the process, said it´s important for the folks in Mississippi to come forward with a recovery plan. And it´s important for New Orleans and the state of Louisiana to work together to develop a state recovery plan. And the reason I said that is because I was aware that folks in Congress will want to spend money based upon a specific strategy. We´ve got to get comfortable with how to proceed. Those plans haven´t -- the plan for Louisiana hasn´t come forward yet, and I urge the officials, both state and city, to work together so we can get a sense for how they´re going to proceed.
Now, having said that, I recognize there were some early things we needed to do to instill confidence. One of them was to say that we will make the levees stronger and better than before, and study further strengthening of the levees. In other words, I recognize that people needed to be able to say, well, gosh, we can´t even get started until we got a commitment from the federal government on the levees.
A lot of the money we´re spending is prescribed by law, but we also went a step further and proposed to Congress, and they accepted, the CDGB money so that monies can actually go directly to individual families that need help. We´ll continue to work with the folks down there. But I want to remind the people in that part of the world, $85 billion is a lot, and secondly, we were concerned about creating additional federal bureaucracies, which might make it harder to get money to the people.
Bush's fault!
Landrieu is heading over the cliff.
No. State Corruption is the #1 obstacle to Louisiana rebuilding, Mary...
Can't stop the Dems from lying.
Bring on the barf bags!!!!!!!
I love the inclusion of these extraneous moments just so Landreu can include the (Laughter) quotes, like Bush is laughing at them.
That baby-faced btich Landreu is the perfect democrat--politics before country at every turn.
Mary, Mary, Mary.
Whining is SO unattractive.
Shame on you. If President Bush was the "number one obstacle" to the rebuilding of Louisiana, would he not also be equally an obstacle to rebuilding in Mississippi, Alabama and Florida? Yet the cleanup and restoration of lives in those places goes on, and nobody (or almost nobody, malcontents are EVERYWHERE) is kvetching about the lack of support they are getting in Federal assistance. Louisiana can and should do a great deal of the "self-help" in putting their own house in order.
OMG. This woman is delusional. Absolutely 100% certifiable.
Poor, confused woman. Get up in the seat and drive the frickin' bus, Mary.
Louisiana wants the FedGov to fund even more $ billions, even though they have got their share and then some.
Bush: A lot of the money we´re spending is prescribed by law, but we also went a step further and proposed to Congress, and they accepted, the CDGB money so that monies can actually go directly to individual families that need help.
I think we have discovered the underlying reason for the problem.
Landrieu and her cronies have "a plan" that funnels federal money through their hands.
The President has "a plan" that puts the money directly in the hands of the affected individuals.
The kleptocracy is at risk of being cut off...
She weasled her way back into the Senate in 2000, but I don't believe that she can pull it off again.
Will she?
"That baby-faced btich Landreu..."
Hubby & I call her Baby Moon.
Some 80% of the black folk who fled Narlins will never return.
This diaspora sent large numbers to other states, and this may just be the margin of votes that any statewide Dem'crat needs to ever get elected.
Look for an almost fair tally of votes in fall 2006 in Louisiana.
Filthy Lying LIbs and the LIes they tell.
By Mary Landrieu
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