And they say we are a strange pair! The times change, but The New York Slimes just stays the same...
Posted on 02/28/2006 3:07:48 PM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pressed lawmakers and the White House Tuesday for emergency help for Sacramento's river and delta levees. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer pledged to try to get money for the levees in an upcoming spending bill for Iraq and Hurricane Katrina.
California's senators want $23.5 million to complete high-priority flood-control projects identified by the Army Corps of Engineers. They sent a letter to the chairman and top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee asking that the money be added to a multibillion-dollar spending package for Iraq, Afghanistan and hurricane relief that Congress will take up in coming weeks.
Feinstein also said she would try to get levee money in the 2007 federal budget. President Bush's 2007 budget proposal included $65 million for flood control projects in Sacramento, but left out $6 million the state wanted for delta levee projects.
At a joint press conference, Feinstein and Schwarzenegger said it wouldn't be easy to free up more federal money but said they had to try. Sacramento has less than 100-year flood protection - the lowest of any large urban area in the nation - largely because of weaknesses in the 1,600 miles of federal-state levees that protect the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta and the rivers that flow in and out of it.
An earthquake or catastrophic flood in the area could jeopardize the water supply for 22 million Californians.
"You'd lose a third of Sacramento, you'd have 20 feet of water, you'd lose two-thirds of the water supply for California, the economy would stop," Feinstein said. "The question is do you wait for it to happen or do you do something about it now. And there's only one answer - you do something about it now."
Schwarzenegger said: "We're asking the federal government to go and spend a little bit of money in order to save a lot of money."
Schwarzenegger, wrapping up a Washington visit to attend the National Governors Association annual conference, also met with White House Chief of Staff Andy Card to push for a federal disaster declaration for the levees to free up funding. Schwarzenegger declared a state emergency for the area on Friday.
Schwarzenegger said he didn't get any assurances about a disaster declaration, but that he made his case and officials said they would help. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff agreed after a meeting with Schwarzengger on Monday to visit California to view the levees.
The law that allows presidents to declare federal disaster areas in states is normally used after a disaster hits, though in the case of Hurricane Katrina, President Bush declared a disaster two days in advance.
"I think it's very difficult to get a federal disaster declaration for a disaster that hasn't taken place," Feinstein said. "But I do believe it has an overwhelming value in that it elevates it to the priority that it is. Nobody wants to wait for a Katrina-like syndrome to happen, and then of course you're eligible for a disaster declaration."
Earlier Tuesday Schwarzenegger joined the Western Governors Association in passing a policy resolution calling on Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform including a temporary guest worker program.
Schwarzenegger also met with House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., and other lawmakers on the House and Senate spending committees.
How very liberal of them all.
I'd have thought that these three California liberals would have learned a lesson from the Katrina disaster:
1) It's far cheaper to prohibit growth in flood prone areas than build bigger, higher levees.
2) Its far cheaper to let agriculture maintain the levees, at their own private expense, than to prohibit them from levee maintenance in the name of environmentalism.
3) It's far cheaper to provide tax relief for agriculture, to sustain their vital role, than it is to build bigger, higher levees inviting urban expansion into productive farm and forestry land.
And they say we are a strange pair! The times change, but The New York Slimes just stays the same...
It's far cheaper to let people build where they like, and suffer the consequences. But I suppose that won't fly in California. It's government's job to save everyone from their own stupidity.
It's far cheaper to let people build where they like, and be responsible for their own destiny.
My Bad
In an article yesterday, it said:
The appeal to federal officials came after Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency Friday in California in hopes of freeing up $75 million to $100 million in funding and suspending state environmental and contracting laws to speed repairs of 24 eroding levees.Schwarzenegger gave Chertoff a letter for Bush on Monday requesting a federal disaster declaration and money to pay for the repairs. With the federal government normally picking up 75 percent of repairs for severely eroded levees, Schwarzenegger estimated the bill for Washington would be between $56 million and $75 million.
So, with all of these estimates, one can conclude that this great "emergency," which is being compared to Katrina, would take less than $100 million to eliminate (despite the quibbling over who picks up the tab).
It is strange that we should see headlines for a week about this great "crisis" when you take it in perspective (from a dollar standpoint). The amount to the state equates to less than 0.1% of the annual spending of the State. It represents about 1/5 to 1/4 of the amount the State will be spending on the new "After School Programs." If people's lives are truly in danger, the only "crisis" is that we have a bunch of inept politicians that some actually believe are going to protect the people.
The only reason I can see for them creating all the hoopla about this is to confuse the electorate into believing that the $100,000,000 spending on the safety of these levees have something to do with the $222,000,000,000 Strategic Growth Plan that they will be asking voters to swallow. Even if they are somehow related, I'd like to see the detailed justification for the remaining $221,900,000,000.
And which the voters will reject. Arnie's SGP is going nowhere.
One would have thought that Prop 57/58 were going nowhere.
Or Prop 71, giving $3,000,000,000 of taxpayer money to unaccountable venture capitalists.
I do hope you are right though.
222,000,000,000 Strategic Growth Plan
100,000,000 Levee "emergency" elimination
221,900,000,000 Remaining "investment"Add together the fear of an unpredictable, non partisan, outside threat (nature), a false impression of urgency conveyed by the Katrina linkage and the very public cooperation of traditional political opponents and you've got it. BINGO! The magic recipe for success of the illogical.
These new imports from the White House are sharp. First they ran rings around Republican Party conservatives in San Jose and now they're faking out the whole state with the aid of liberal allies.
Schwarzenegger meets the brides of Frankestein and Dracula.
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