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.
Just to expand a bit on my last point about removing the political side of this issue. We overcame the Germans in order to help the people in northern Europe. We went to war and overcame Mussolini to help the Italians and Hitler to help the Jews and their fellow Europeans. We overcame the Japanese army to help the folks in the south Pacific. American's have overcome the North Korean army to help the South Koreans. Americans have overcome the Taliban to help the Afghans and Saddam Hussien to help the citizens of Iraq.
Why on earth are Americans willing to let an incompetant Governor and an idiot mayor get in the way of helping their very own fellow Americans?
We really don't want that to be a factor.
But with all due respect, look at Blanco and Nagin and ask, can you trust those nimrods with $250 billion? That is the stark choice those outside your state are staring in the face now. We want to help. But we also don't want our tax dollars to line the pockets of those who created this disaster.
So I'm asking an honest question to our Louisiana freepers - how do we send billions to your state without enriching the parasites? I do not ask that question out of malice, but out of a genuine desire to help without my tax dollars going to the bloodsuckers.
Making a decision on the level of levee protection is the starting point. That's got nothing at all to do with who is in charge locally. Delaying this decision as it has been is not fair to those in the affected area. You are free to ponder this decision in the comfort of your own home with a nice roof over your head. Even after almost five months, this is a luxury that hundreds of thousands of your fellow citizens don't have. How long must they wait for this simple yes or no decision?
So I will state this once again - even if the American taxpayers were to agree that Cat 5 levees should be built around NOLA, your officials said that the levees were up to a Cat 3 and they were not. And the NOLA levee commisssion instead was more concerned about casinos and fountains.
I think I can speak for the average American and say we want to help. But we also see the complete corruption that was in place before Katrina, and we also see that the same politicians who screwed the pooch before Katrina are the ones now asking for 250 billion of our tax dollars.
Put yourself outside your state. Would you agree to sending $250 billion to a state that was so corrupt?
One thing that could be done is to set up a Gulf Coast Recovery Agency under joint control of congress and the president. Locals and states would help to define their needs while the agency would handle all of the financing and money dispersal. None of the local or state officials would be in the money chain. This agency would exist until it is no longer needed as defined by congress and the president. The priority of this agency would be to speedily assist as many people as possible and not leave folks out to dry like they have been all along the coast. FEMA is not working, either here or in Mississippi. To much bureacractic red tape and not designed to handle such a massive problem. Like I said earlier, screw the politicians, help the people.
Louisiana has had to live with the image of Huey Long on the movie screens all over this nation. Do many of them realize that he's been dead since 1935? It's my opinion that our image to others has been unfairly tainted by his image. Edwin Edwards didn't help to overcome this image but guess what, he's in prison. Yea, we've got our share of corruption down here. In the case of Blanco, it's not corruption as much as incompetance. In the case of Nagin, it's more simple stupidity.
Your state is not perfect. Philly has it's own corruption problems, as has Chicago for years. A Californian earlier in this thread had the nerve to tell us to elect better leaders here in Louisiana. I guess they don't come any better than Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, and Nancy Pelosi, not to mention a former governor named Gray Davis and a former mayor named Willie Brown. The fact is that government in general is a corrupt enterprise as it now stands no matter where you chose to look. The excuse not to help is easy if you simply use the political approach.
As to the 250 Billion request, It was ridiculous. I wouldn't pay it any mind at all. The burning issue is the levee protection. A simple yes or no.
I agree.
But my state is not asking for $250 billion.
I am not asking this to be ornery. I will ask it again.
As you noted, yours is the state of the Kingfish. And that was endearing before Katrina hit.
But now we are facing stark realities in the aftermath of Katrina and Rita. The American people are willing to help.
But you immediately talked about building Cat 5 levees. I hate to tell you this, but I don't think there is any such animal. Blanco went to the Netherlands on a junket to find out how well they did things. And they said they did not have to face hurricanes.
Most of NOLA is below sea level. And due to levees, it will continue to sink.
In addition, sometime in the near future the Mississippi will change course down the Atchafalaya. IMO, we are confronted with the need to deal with two major threats to NOLA. There is no point in rebuilding the parts of the city that are below sea level. We need to deal with nature and quit fighting it, and instead deal with the realities that nature presents us and move the city.
Tell me this, Dirtboy, would you mind Louisiana taking it's fair share of it's own oil and gas revenues to help rebuild itself? What if Louisiana decided to fund it's rebuilding through taxes on goods shipped into and out of New Orleans, or through processing taxes on our refineries? Would you accept the cost of living increases that these steps might mean to you in order that we help ourselves?
This dialog is good to have. I want you to do one more thing as a portion of this debate that might be beneficial to all who read this. List briefly, in numerical fashion, as many excuses you can think of NOT to rebuild New Orleans. Then, do the same thing by listing as many reasons you can think of as to WHY we must rebuild New Orleans. From one long-time Freeper to another, I ask that you do this as a favor to me and all of my fellow Louisiana Freepers. You say you'd like to help us and this is one way that you can. Thanks in advance.
Thanks for the pointer to snopes.com. It has cleared up much information in the past for me, but sometimes I don't make the association to check there.
You're welcome. It's a nice site and I go to it often when these kinds of emails make the rounds. Sometimes there is some basis for the email but by the time it hits the masses it's been embellished quite a bit.
I see that you're up and about this morning. Do you have that list for us?
Seeing as you used the term "excuses", I don't think you are interested in honest debate here.
Which is another reason why taxpayers are getting less and less interested in sending y'all tens of billions of more money - because of the attitudes of folks like you.
But, since you are asking, albeit in an arrogant manner, there are many reasons to not rebuild NOLA in its current location, except for protecting the areas that did not flood during Katrina:
1 - the historic reason for the exact location of the city - an easy portage to Ponchatrain - is no longer necessary.
2 - much of the city is now well below sea level.
3 - and the entire region will continue to subside, meaning that we will be in a non-stop battle to keep levees high enough.
4 - we are in a major hurricane up-cycle that will last for at least two more decades.
5 - and the main reason - sooner or later, the Atchafalaya will become the main channel for the Mississippi - leaving NOLA stranded along a brackish slough. If we are gonna spend 200 billion in your state, let's spend it once to deal with that potential disaster as well, and move the port westward close to where the Atchafalaya branches off the Mississippi and goes to the Gulf. Sooner or later, Old River Control is gonna fail. Best we be ready for it.
That's my opinion, and I've stated that since Katrina hit. But as long as folks like you have the attitude that you have, good luck getting the tax dollars to carry that out. Which leads to reason 6:
The same corrupt hacks that helped create this mess are the ones asking for all that money.
Thanks for the reasons "why" to let New Orleans rot. Now how about the reasons "why" to save New Orleans?
Yep, you ain't interested in honest debate here.
This guy epitomizes liberalism. The idea that there is something wrong with taking care of your own problems amazes me. I suspect he's a RINO.
Ok, how's this for honesty. You profess to care about us but you find one EXCUSE after another to avoid doing anything that might actually help us. You didn't even try to list reasons why saving New Orleans is worthwhile. You even provided an EXCUSE not to do that. You don't really care about us. Why don't you be honest enough to admit it right off the bat?
That's bullcrap. I gave legitimate reasons for not rebuilding the city in place. And expressed willingness to spend the money it takes to create a port city further west to deal with the inevitable diversion of the existing Mississippi main channel down the Atchafalaya. NOLA faces FOUR threats - hurricanes, subsidence, river flooding and a loss of the Mississippi - and I believe all four should be dealt with - ONCE.
THAT would help you far more than what you or your political leaders are proposing. What is needed in your state is a reconciliation with reality.
I'm through with this. You are not interested in all in fair debate here, and you are being completely misrepresenting my positions. Which means you fit in quite well with your political leaders.
1994 earthquake, I received $200.00 for Fema. That $200.00 was to jack my house up and put it back on the foundation, bolt it, replace the broken window, replace the cracked tile in my bathroom and the damaged linoleum in my kitchen.
LOL, the window alone was 90.00
FEMA is a joke. GET YOUR OWN INSURANCE.
Such a simpleminded solution from someone totally ignorant of the terrain of south Louisiana. There is no place to move, or rebuild a port along the lower Atchafalaya should the Mississippi river be diverted there. Morgan City would be under water, and there is nothing but swamp in the Atchafalaya Basin. How simple, "move the port". Easy to suggest as a quick fix from someone unwilling to get over their own anger and selfishness to even consider that this might not be a possible thing to do. You talk about arrogance. Arrogance is sitting in a snowstorm surrounded house in the middle of wintertime and complaining about the cost of home heating oil. That cost is going to go up. We will solve our own problems whether you like it or not.
Uh, dude, I did not say lower Atchafalaya. I said up where it diverts off the Mississippi. That would be the logical place for a new port, with a very large canal built with locks to deal with the fact that the gradient when the channel does jump to the Atchafalaya will make it unnavigable for some time.
You're so ready to attack that you can't even read the posts in question. If you are representative of the people in your state, it's no wonder the rest of the country is getting less and less willing to send tax dollars your way.
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