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.
Let's see, your state senators are Feinstein and Boxer. Your senior house rep is Nancy Pelosi. I guess you couldn't have "voted better" yourself either. You and your "jerk" friend have a lot of nerve pretending to be experts on who we elect in Louisiana.
I don't know where you are getting your information but you are incorrect.
I don't pretend to be an expert, I'm not but your Federal, State and Local representation is to blame to some degree for failing you, So yes even though I did give money to help your fellow Lousianians I do agree with much of post 15 ( Maybe not the screw em part). In the end you get the government that you deserve.....so work to get that. You have an opportunity to make I change of representation. I suggest you start by cleaning your own house before you tell me to clean mine.
The feds have been in control of the primary decisions concerning the future of New Orleans and the rest of the gulf coast for the past four and a half months because it is the feds who will foot the bill. Homeowners, property owners, business owners, and others are being held in limbo while Bush & company twiddle their thumbs. If they don't want to build Cat 5 levees, just say so & lots of folks will know what to do with their lives. The levee questions primarily drive the future of south Louisiana in general and the New Orleans metro area in particular. Commiting to anything short of Cat 5 protection (now or in near future) is telling those hundreds of thousands of decent, tax-paying American citizens of New Orleans not to rebuild but to live elswhere. Not what they might want to hear, and a terrible shame to this nation if it comes to that, but at least it allows these folks to move on out of the limbo they're in.
Who the local and state politicians are have nothing to do with the ability of the feds and Bush administration ability to make this determination. People are stranded all over the nation wanting to come home. Many of them have homes totally destroyed due to the failure of a levee system under the control of the U.S. Corps of Engineers as well as incompetant Levee boards. These levees were part of this nation's promise of safety to all who lived within them. The time is long overdue to either keep this promise or break it. Asking those who have been devastated by this catastrophe to wait any longer to find out is an act of cruelty.
" 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."
We had a hurricane or two and we are not waiting for a federal bailout. You need to quit whining. Building below flood is stupid. Move to high ground or take your chances.
All four hurricanes that hit Florida in 2004....Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne destroyed about 27,000 homes COMBINED. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed 217,000 homes in Louisiana alone, not to mention the 69,000 homes destroyed in Mississippi. It's all a matter of scope. Sorry Florida but you have never seen this kind of widespread destruction. You should be thankful for that.
The economic impact of ENTIRE parishes being wiped away, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, Cameron is incredible. Chalmette is a ghost town where once over 70,000 people lived, worked, and enjoyed the good life of home. We are not new to hurricanes down here in Louisiana and are quite familiar with the damages usually associated with their aftermath. The scale of devastation from both Katrina and from Rita is unimaginable. Other grizzled hurricane veterans from other areas might have a normal picture of a normal aftermath frozen in their minds. This is anything but normal.
Oh! Stupid me.
Well,uoy wercs
Sorry, that should have been directed at B.Mason
Big Deal! It snowed. Then you went back home and back to your lives.How many homes were flooded for weeks? How many homes are now uninhabitable? How many homes are still without power, 5 months later? Big Deal, it snowed!
How many homes? How about ENTIRE parishes and ENTIRE communities?
We had an ice storm here a few weeks ago....nearly a quarter inch of ice on the trees. Branches fell in the driveway and on the deck, the power was out for THREE HOURS! It was horrible, we didn't get any help from anyone! We pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps and moved forward (and that wasn't easy hanging onto our bootstraps) but we didn't whine! Well, I whined a little because I missed my soap, but I'm sure you can understand that. If we can do it, you can do it! </sarcasm>
Sadly, the sarcasm will be lost on most, if not all, of the posters who think they understand the scope of the damage in your area. Keep up the good fight!
Oh my, how awful that must have been for you Ima. Are you okay now? All kidding aside, I try to cut some of the posters some slack because they are posting these things without really knowing how bad it is. As a previous poster stated, their point of reference is past hurricanes and the destruction they caused. These two storms, Katrina and Rita, rewrote the books on that and some posters just can't grasp the difference in damage and how widespread it is. Now other posters are just plain cruel and heartless and like to play tough behind their keyboards. After a while it gets to be like a mob mentality. You know, who can say something meaner and tougher than the last poster. Those kind you just have to ignore.
I'm sorry to hear about all that you're going through.....it bothers me that the Federal Govermnment is not moving faster but part of the problem with speed on their part has to do with unions force a bidding war on everything ...not that that is bad but it ties things up some more.
Alot of us outsiders don't get the on the ground info because.... well.....the media is probably bored with the story. Anyway one of my main points in my last post was to help you understand how frustrated we feel. Yes the federal government is to blame ...so is Landreau, Breaux ( He was in office for years and has had a friendly relationship with both Clinton and Bush administrations)....and Vittner who is in the right party but he's a newcomer so not much clout there. These people have been aware of the dangers for sometime...what did they do to solve it?.....Sure Bush is in office and maybe that is why landreau has not clout but Breaux and landreau where there when Clinton was in office why didn't they do anything?.......
Look I know your hands are being tied, federal bureaucracy is a bitch....and I'm not trying to rub it in your face.....but this is how a lot of us outsiders see the problem in Louisiana, not just in terms of the two hurricanes that smashed up the state but also the incompetence of the federal, state, and local representatives that took their eyes off the balls and then try to point at someone else as the "sole" scapegoat to avoid blame.
I know the Feds are making it harder but before the FED could act Blanco had to invite them in( separation of State and Federal govt. rights) Nagin didn't sound the alarm soon enough and then forgot that he had all those school buses.....then we hear how well Mississippi is doing. What are they doing that Louisiana isn't?....
This is the picutre most of us outsiders have.....I wish I knew more but I don't....this is the working information that most of us are using to determine what we think about the situation......
I hope that clarifies why so many are feeling the way they do about Lousiana and I'm sorry you are so frustrated...it must be hell and I understand your reasoning for your anger....sometimes you just have to reach out and pound something....even if it's only the keys of a computer and a blog-a-sphere.
My advice is don't wait for the calvery....just make a decision and move on. It sounds like you need a little more peace in your life and moving on doesn't equal giving up or running away it just means your making a decision. And Don't let the tail wag the dog......when you make your decision.
Good luck and God bless,
umbob
Betcha they would be singing a different tune if Clinton was handing out the candy.
However, what has turned people off afterwards has been the attitude of your elected officials towards the US taxpayer.
People are more than willing to help. But when you have Louisiana asking for $250 billion dollars, when you have Louisiana's history of political corruption, when it becomes clear that levees were not properly constructed and that is why they failed under Cat 2 conditions, when Louisiana failed to plan adequately to evacuate and then failed to follow even its inadequate plan, and then the pols have spent the time since Katrina blaming the feds while taking junkets to the Netherlands - they are simply alienating the taxpayers in other states.
And any rebuilding needs to make sense, both in Louisiana and Mississippi. If American taxpayers are going to pay over a 100 billion to help rebuild, it does not make sense to simply set up the bowling pins again in the same place. Any reconstruction paid for by taxpayers needs to include risk remediation, as the poster who suffered from Charley has done. When Louisiana pols want hundreds of billions to repeat their mistakes, it's the people of Louisiana who suffer. And it's up to the people of Louisiana to drive the bums out of office and replace them with competent leadership.
This nation owes them a decision on this issue. A simple yes or no will tell lots of these folks what to do next in their lives. The Mississippi gulf coast was just as devastated but those folks at least are able to begin rebuilding their lives without some bureacracy weighing whether or not it will be safe to do so.
This country somehow found enough money to fund a 14 billion dollar tunnel project in Boston. Apparently, it's difficult finding that amount of commitment to save one of America's great cities. Stop focusing on the political side of this issue and try to maintain focus on the need aspect of your fellow Americans. Screw politics. It's only an issue if you let it be one.
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.