« Stewart Knows Best | Main | Clip Show »

September 8, 2005
The Politics of Relief

Today's Progress Report from the Centers for American Progress is pretty stunning.

Since I know how people feel about clicking links and reading stuff, I'll excerpt a big chunk here. All you have to do is let your eyes continue downward...

Today, Congress will consider a $52 billion supplemental spending bill for the victims of Hurricane Katrina -- money that is desperately needed to help rebuild cities and lives. That hasn't stopped some from playing politics with the money. The Boston Globe reports that Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) and Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) are angling to "give Mississippi first dibs in the post-Hurricane Katrina grab for federal disaster funds." They may be successful because the three form a political triumvirate that "packs more political muscle than the storm-ravaged states of Louisiana and Alabama." Now is the time to put politics aside and get the money where it's needed most.

NO TRANSPARENCY, NO DEBATE:
The House of Representatives, at the urging of the conservative leadership, voted "to limit floor consideration of the Federal response to Hurricane Katrina to just forty minutes." The rule governing consideration of the bill will "prevent any amendments from being offered." According to Rep. Louis Slaughter (D-NY), prior to precluding the possibility of amendments, "no one had yet to even see a copy of the legislation.." Slaughter said, "It is this very lack of accountability in government which ensured that our disaster response would be a bigger disaster than the hurricane itself. Yet here they go again, completely unfazed in their determination to eliminate debate, consideration and accountability from the Congress and the Federal government."

THE SWIFT BOATING OF GOV. BLANCO: Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) wrote a letter urging Speaker Dennis Hastert to "refrain from directly appropriating any funds from the public treasury to either the state of Louisiana or the city of New Orleans." Tancredo said the money should be withheld as punishment for the "mind-boggling incompetence" of Louisiana Gov.  Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin in the "response to this disaster." Tancredo did not mention that on August 27, President Bush directed "the Department of Homeland Security [and] Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency."

Progress Report

There's also a good bit about the contrast between the Bush administration's response to the hurricanes that struck Florida last year (coincidentally, there was an presidential election going on at the time, and OH!, the governor is his brother) and their response to Katrina. Worth a read.

Comments

Previous Comments

I'm growing weary of the rampant ignorance being perpetuated by posts like these. First and foremost, it would behoove everyone in blogdom to learn about emergency preparedness and the role of the federal government in disasters before posting such drivel.

For a quick lesson, here goes:
You'll notice that the White House Press Release has a FEMA contact number at the bottom, meaning it was drafted by FEMA and signed by the President, or his Press Secretary. You should also know that FEMA drafts the Executive Order declaring a federal emergency and the President merely signs it into effect, releasing federal resources (mainly human and financial) to aid in the response and recovery. What I'm saying is that the President merely serves as the figure head, placing his rubber stamp of approval on template documents sent to the White House by Dept. of Homeland Security/FEMA.

The purpose of all this paper peddling is to assist state and local governments in DOING THEIR JOBS. That is, to protect their citizens from the disaster. It is wholly the responsibility of city, county and state governments to protect their own. That's why every state has it's own National Guard. That's why there were funds allocated through the Stafford Act to create emergency ops centers in every state--and many counties--and to develop comprehensive emergency management plans.

It is painfully obvious that the City of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana neglected their citizens by failing to execute these plans and fully utilize their own resources. What's more, they neglected to enlist the help of other states and even the federal government before it was too late.

It would help many bloggers to get their facts straight before they begin lobbing virtual grenades at the federal government or it's Commander-in-Cheif.

The reason Florida's hurricane nightmare was handled so well was because of FLORIDA'S PREPAREDNESS and not the federal response. It had nothing to do with Gov. Bush's connections to Washington. The White House doesn't coordinate local and state response. Mayors and Governor's do. The system in Florida--which leads the entire nation by the way--was put in place before Jeb ever decided to run for office. He has learned how to manage the precision-run machine, and to effectively use the media.

Governor Blanco should have taken her cue from Gov. Bush, but instead she cried on television and offered little hope to her citizenry. She is a bumbling idiot, unfit for duty...but that's just my opinion.

Just as disaster response starts locally and works upward, like a pyramid, the lion's share of the blame for the fiasco in New Orleans lies with the mayor and the Governor. PERIOD.

I would not worry about too much of a response. It will probobly be more of the same...deny, deflect and then blame someone else.


I agree with Chris. You can't blame the President for the failures of his administration. When FEMA fucks up, it's FEMA's problem. What's that got to do with Bush? Everybody knows that Michael Brown appointed himself, and Bush has no authority whatsoever over the Federal government. I also agree completely that most of this bureaucratic bungling falls on the state level, and even more of it falls on the local government level, and when it comes down to it, I'd like to point out that the person who really fucked up the most is an auto mechanic from the Ninth Ward named Doug Johnson. If Doug would have shored up those levies during his days off, everything would be fine. The jackass. It's important to remember here that you can't expect the federal government to, like, do things in times of emergency. That's not what the federal government is for. The federal government is there to listen to your phone conversations and monitor your library books. Obviously.

Chris, this is just patently ridiculous. Look at the public record as to what the FEDERAL government did after the hurricanes in Florida last year. They mobilized immediately, responded quickly, appropriated more money initially, and on and on.

Nor do you mention any of the funds cut BY THE PRESIDENT from programs designed expressly to prepare for this kind of event by the local authorities.

The White House, of course, does not coordinate emergency responses, but that's completely beside the point. The White House is responsible for the managers they appoint, the policies they enact (which undermined local preparedness in countless ways), and for SHOWING LEADERSHIP in a time of crisis. Leadership sometimes means bypassing red tape in favor of an effective response when faced with a catastrophe on such a huge scale. Falling back on all of this protocol, chain of command bullshit is pathetic and cowardly.

This crap about the president being a figurehead and a "rubber stamp" is truly pathetic and best shot down by WSH above, so I'll leave it there.

And spurrier, as usual, plays the role of The Pot quite well.