Tax cuts had nothing to do with it, of course.
But when the nation puts priority on military (i.e., war) spending, there have to be budget cuts elsewhere . . or you get exactly the same condition that resulted when LBJ proclaimed that we could have "guns and butter" in the late '60s.
That gave us Nixon, dollar devaluation, wage and price controls, scandals, inflation and then Jimmuh Carter and a national malaise.
Although it's not really the fedguv's responsibility to make Losiana habitable -- it took that on, I suspect, as a job-creation project during the Depression -- look for the Bush administration to promise billions to rebuilding the levees, reclaiming flooded farmland, and making N'olins whole again. There will be no serious discussion, in Congress at least, of whether this is a wise path to follow. It's the path of least resistance, so it must be right.
We are in for a rough ride.
Typical RAT solution - "A STUDY" - Talk about trying to mislead the ignorant. Like conducting a study a year ago would have prevented anything. I build flood walls for a living. Any study results would take 5 to 10 years before a design is completed and the RATS in congress approve construction funding. The RATS do not have a decent bone in their bodies. They just make me want to vomit!!
"A year ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed to study how New Orleans could be protected from a catastrophic hurricane, but the Bush administration ordered that the research not be undertaken."