I will even go so far as to drive around it, should I find the need to go west.
In fact, if I fly, I will fly around the damn place. ;)
Posted on 01/26/2006 12:14:03 PM PST by iPod Shuffle
La. Leaders Dissatisfied With U.S. Grants
White House Grants to Rebuild Gulf Coast Fall Short, La. Officials Say
By LARA JAKES The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Multibillion-dollar grants the Bush administration distributed Wednesday to hurricane-ravaged states left Louisiana far short of the federal aid it wants and divided Gulf Coast lawmakers who have been working together to win more assistance.
The details of how the previously announced $11.5 billion would be distributed to five states followed word that the administration was rejecting a $30 billion redevelopment plan for Louisiana that state officials considered the cornerstone of their hopes for rebuilding.
"My dad used to tell me, 'Cheer up, things could be worse,'" said Rep. Richard Baker, R-La., the architect of the $30 billion plan to jump-start his state. "So I cheered up and things got worse."
By rejecting his plan, Baker said the White House "is basically saying to Louisiana, 'If you want to rebuild, you have to find resources of your own.'"
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said officials were told Baker's plan was "too expensive."
The White House rejection "demonstrates a continued lack of understanding for the magnitude of the devastation and the immense rebuilding task our state faces," Landrieu said.
Asked about Louisiana's concerns that the grants would not help tens of thousands of people mostly in low-income and working class neighborhoods around New Orleans federal Gulf Coast redevelopment officer Donald Powell said states can use the money to satisfy their most urgent hurricane relief priorities.
Once the grants are depleted, Powell said, "We are very open to going back and asking for more money."
The bulk of the $11.5 billion $6.2 billion would go to Louisiana. That falls short of what Louisiana officials said was necessary to help an estimated 200,000 homeowners return and rebuild their communities.
But Mississippi officials hailed the grants that would bring $5 billion to their state and help up to an estimated 50,000 households that were walloped by flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina.
"It's huge," said Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., who has worked closely with Louisiana lawmakers over the last four months to ensure that Congress continues sending assistance to the region.
Under the grant program, Florida is eligible for $83 million, Alabama for $75 million and Texas for $74 million.
Gulf State officials have been grappling with sustaining White House and congressional interest in helping the devastated region at a time of huge federal deficits, costly wars abroad, and other federal expenses.
Congress has so far appropriated $67 billion to help the region get back on its feet. The White House has estimated the federal government has provided at least an additional $18 billion in flood insurance and other assistance.
Baker had proposed creating a federally supported Louisiana Recovery Corporation to buy large tracts of storm-damaged homes in Louisiana by borrowing up to $30 billion in U.S. Treasury bonds. The corporation would repair the homes and resell them either to developers or to the original homeowners.
But the White House said no to the program. Instead, the administration for now will focus on uninsured homeowners who lived outside designated flood plains, many of whom now face mortgage foreclosures that would almost certainly prevent them from rebuilding.
"This is an investment in long-term recovery and rebuilding lives," said Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson. "Working with these states and their citizens, it is our hope that the families who once had a home can return to their home."
Baker estimated the federal grants won't help 180,000 families 140,000 of which lived in flood plains but behind more than 200 miles of levees.
"They gave us a ladder to reach our housing needs, but the top rungs are missing," Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said in Baton Rouge. "Louisiana's housing needs are not complete without Rep. Baker's bill."
Still, Louisiana redevelopment officials said they would consider creating the corporation on a state level, although they made clear that some sort of federal loan guarantee would likely be necessary.
The Gulf Coast was slammed by the triple-whammy of hurricanes that began with Katrina on Aug. 29, followed by Rita on Sept. 24 and Wilma on Oct. 24.
The grants were announced as officials agreed at a Senate hearing that the federal flood insurance program, currently broke because of Gulf Coast hurricane-related claims, must be restructured to make its rate structure more rational and trim unreasonable government subsidies for homeowners who rebuild in flood-prone areas.
The program "has only encouraged people to place themselves in harm's way and continue to build and rebuild in flood-prone areas," said Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.
It will never be enough money. Never. Give them the 30 billion, and they'll come back for more.
Meanwhile, we continue to pay to keep people in five star hotels indefinitely.
Is anyone ever grateful for the help they are given?
"How can we bribe anybody with the pittance we're getting from Uncle Sam?"
"But Mississippi officials hailed the grants that would bring $5 billion to their state and help up to an estimated 50,000 households that were walloped by flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina."
Haley Barbour..
I will even go so far as to drive around it, should I find the need to go west.
In fact, if I fly, I will fly around the damn place. ;)
... mu&/$*k!*% ingrates!
I want my money back. It's not the Federal Government's money anyway. It was mine and they took it away from me under duress!
US dissatisfied with La. Leaders.
Yes, the message is to find your own resources. 15 Billion from us is quite enough.
Therein lies the difference between Louisianans and Mississippians - we appreciate any help that comes along, but won't whine that we should get insane amounts. My hat's off to haley, who said he had initially hoped for $5.2 Billion, but thought the $5 Billion was very generous. He also told the Feds that, while we needed some funding up front, it would be best to spread any additional funding over ten years to make it easier to use it efficiently (keep politicians in Jackson from finding ways to waste it). In contrast, Blanco wanted an enormous $250 Billion and wanted it yesterday...
Send the money back, by all means. I like that HUD doesn't want to assist those who lived in flood plains but did not want to pay for flood insurance.
I don't get it. If you did not have insurance, or if you had poor insurance coverage, why should other US taxpayers give you their money?
I always prefered U.S. Franklins, myself.
Not what I would have expected from one of the Red States.
Katrina was a catastrophe. Rita was a catastrophe. Blanco was a catastrophe, an on-going one at that. Nagin was a catastrophe, about as bad as you can get. FEMA is a catastrophe. The overall federal response is a catastrophe. There is no excuse for the amount of time being taken to settle certain basic points having to do with what to do from here. Category five protection or not? What to do about houising? Imagine putting YOUR life on hold for five months with no home, no possessions, no job, and nothing but the runaround from one agency to another, your insurance company putting the screws to you and the Bush administration sitting on it's ass. Add to this mixture all of the ill-informed jerks of the world (like you, for instance)passing judgement on their fellow American citizens as though they are nothing more than fecies.
The citizens of Louisiana don't deserve what this nation is doing to them. I hope we tell the feds to go screw themselves and resort to a "self-help" approach. This country wouldn't like the gas processing taxes we implement, or the land-use fees we charge the oil and gas companies to run their pipelines through our wetlands, nor the taxes we place on every item shipped into and out of the port of New Orleans but you know what? Screw em.
I'm informed enough to know that Louisiana has wallowed in the filth of corrupt, incompetent and greedy politicians for as long as I've been able to read....If Louisiana was satisfied with the status quo -- then shame on them... Actions have consequences, and electing crooked ignorant assholes is not smart.
I'm informed enough to know that Louisianans are as much to blame for their current problems as the storms that dealt heavier blows to other states - that are BUILDING not BITCHING.
I'm informed enough to know that too damned many Louisiana "citizens" have spent too many generations on the taxpayer's backs - and to this day too damned many are still living in hotels - jobless but living better than at any time in their life.... How can ANYONE be jobless in New Orleans - and WHY must illegal immigrants be brought in to work on the clean up?
I'm informed enough to have reached the point that I'm sick and tired of giving, enduring insults, being blamed for everyones failures, problems and hardship....and still expected to give more to people that despise me and wouldn't cross the street to help me.
I'm certain there are good folks in Louisiana deserving of help - but frankly, I feel my charitable giving will be better and more honestly effective in Alabama or Mississippi. Perhaps Louisiana need to clean up it's politics and get rid of their incompetent, ignorant and corrupt politicians to earn some respect.
Life hasn't been a bowl of cherries for me, either.. But not ONCE did I expect the Fed's or taxpayers to come restore my life..... NOT ONCE..
I'm also informed enough to know how to spell judgment and feces, correctly..
Semper Fi
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