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.
Thanks for the spelling lesson. BTW, were you informed enough to have Willie Brown elected mayor of your proud community? Also, were you informed enough to have Gray Davis elected governor of your wonderful state? There's lots of corruption in California. Are you informed of all of it? You have absolutely no idea of the amount of pain and destruction that has occurred all along the gulf coast. None.
At least I spelled "jerk" right.
You tell 'em Uncle Sham. This guy is an ill-informed jerk. I am getting real sick and tired of all these people who haven't got a clue what's going on down here running their big mouths.
What the hell is that supposed to mean?
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. ;)
Fine by me. It stinks enough around here already from the flood.
--Doesn't sound like it.
These comments are from your very own homepage. Why don't you follow them?
North Dakota News vs New Orleans ......
This text is from a county emergency manager out in the Western part of North Dakota state after the recent snow storm.
WEATHER BULLETIN
Up here in the Northern Plains we just recovered from a Historic event --- may I even say a "Weather Event" of "Biblical Proportions" --- with a historic blizzard of up to 44" inches of snow and winds to 90 MPH that broke trees in half, knocked down utility poles, stranded hundreds of motorists in lethal snow banks, closed ALL roads, isolated scores of communities and cut power to 10s of thousands.
George Bush did not come....
FEMA did nothing....
No one howled for the government...
No one blamed the government
No one even uttered an expletive on TV..
Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton did not visit
Our Mayor's did not blame Bush or anyone else
Our Governor did not blame Bush or anyone else either
CNN, ABC, CBS, FOX, or NBC did not visit - or report on
this category 5 snow storm
Nobody demanded $2,000 debit cards.....
No one asked for a FEMA Trailer House....
No one looted....
Nobody - I mean Nobody demanded the government do something Nobody expected the government to do anything either
No Larry King, No Bill O'Rielly, No Oprah, No Chris
Mathews and No Geraldo Rivera, No Sean Penn, No Barbara Striesand, No Hollywood types
to be found
AND
We just sent out caravans of SUV's to pluck people out of snow
engulfed cars
The truck drivers pulled people out of snow banks and
didn't ask for a penny
Local restaurants made food and the police and fire
departments delivered it to the snow bound families
Families took in the stranded people - total strangers
We Fired up wood stoves
Broke out coal oil lanterns or coleman lanterns
We put on an extra layers of clothes because up here it
is "Work or Die"
We did not wait for some affirmative action government to
get us out of a mess created by being immobilized by a welfare program that trades votes for 'sittin at home' checks.
Even though a Category "5" blizzard of this scale has never fallen this early we know it can happen and how to deal
with it ourselves.
"In my many travels, I have noticed that once one gets north of about 48 degrees North Latitude, 90% most of the world's social problems evaporate."
it is as if we are being blackmailed. They don't want help, they want us to pay til they live in Beverly Hills, or its' equivilant.
I found an interesting stat. In the latest "generosity" index, which ranks charitable giving by states, Louisiana is ranked number 7 and Texas is number 12. Well what do you know?
The people of Louisiana have always been among the most giving people there are. You can call the people of Louisiana a lot of things but "selfish" is not one of them.
10 largest cities (2003 est.): Fargo, 91,484; Bismarck, 56,344; Grand Forks, 48,618; Minot, 35,424; Mandan, 16,781; West Fargo, 16,431; Dickinson, 15,683; Jamestown, 15,158; Williston, 12,224; Wahpeton, 8,443 Land area: 68,976 sq mi. (178,648 sq km) Greater New Orleans Population Total (2000) 484,674 Metro area 1,337,726 Density 534.4/km²North Dakota 2000 resident census population 642,200
All food,water, sewer sources for most of those people were flooded and not usable. It was also unbearably hot and when you put all those folks and conditions together in a very small unventilated space well it brings out the worst in people. It was kind of stanky to be nice. It was beyond stinky.
I don't agree with the whining and bitching going on by a few people. Most of the people aren't whining they just are too busy cleaning up and rebuilding.
One thing to keep in mind is that hardly anybody lives in North Dakota because of the blizzards and desolateness of the area. 99% of the time you can't ask for better weather than what we have here. I have roses blooming and need to mow my grass.
Would you care to site your source for that information?
There was also Hurricane Rita. Remember that storm, it was the lowest pressure storm ever in the Gulf. It wiped out just about the entire coast of the state and the catastrophic damage went inland as far as 100 miles. What Katrina missed, Rita got. Two of the highest income producing parts of the state were knocked off line for months. Had we not been hit by Rita three weeks later in the Southwestern part of the state then we wouldn't have needed as much help.
Thanks for sharing your opinion with the thread. Have a great day.
Ever been to the snopes.com website? It is a site dedicated to researching urban legends and rumors, etc. Go to snopes.com, type North Dakota in the search box and then click on the link about the North Dakota email. It is not completely as the email states. Also, the governor of North Dakota did in fact ask the federal government to declare several counties disaster areas so they would be eligible for disaster aid. He also wrote a letter requesting that FEMA reimburse North Dakota for storm related expenses. There are a few other differences you might be interested in. Check it out.
"Would you care to site your source for that information?"
Mary Landrieu, Gov. Blanco, Roy Willie Wonka Nagin and some of the Republicans in your state. Maybe I should have said some of your politcos are the most selfish in the nation.
Ahh, I think you've hit on something there........Do you suppose they'd rather have cash to hide instead of making out receipts for the grant expenditures?
Bravo!......Couldn't have said it better myself!
HUD stuns TexasLocal officials were stunned and fuming after the state's share of federal hurricane relief dollars was announced Wednesday, claiming Texans were getting a raw deal.
Texas received less than one percent of the $11.5 billion doled out by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), with the bulk going to Louisiana and Mississippi.
"Its unconscionable," said U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands. "(HUD officials) are treating us like second-class citizens."
The $74.5 million HUD Secretary Alfonso Jackson allocated to Texas is woefully insufficient to meet the state's needs, which total at least $1.2 billion, Brady said.
The hurricane relief bill passed by Congress authorized Jackson to distribute the money among the Gulf states based on need, with no state receiving more than 54 percent of the funds.
Louisiana received $6.2 billion, the maximum allowed by law. Mississippi got nearly $5.1 billion and Florida received $83 million. Alabama got about the same amount as Texas.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.