TOTAL INFORMATION ANALYSIS

Monday, January 30, 2006

Katrina relief: Money for Halliburton, not homeowners.

From RingsidePolitics.com January 25, 2006:

"Yesterday, Louisiana received the bad news that the White House will not support the Baker Bill, a plan to help hurricane destroyed areas in which a government agency would buy the unlivable homes for at least 60% of the equity, fulfill the mortgage commitments and then either resell them or redevelop the area. Almost all Louisiana leaders believed that this bill was the best one to help the hurricane ravaged state recover. It was the most comprehensive, but involved creating a federal agency costing taxpayers billions of dollars. The expensive price tag was too much for Bush officials who advocated yesterday that the state use part of their block grant money to help uninsured homeowners.

The problem with the Bush strategy is that Louisiana did not receive enough block grant money. Although Louisiana had three times more property damage than any other area, it received only 54% of the block grants funds. Whether it was the limited influence of our congressional delegation or a federal bias against a state with a corrupt past, it does not negate the fact that not enough funds were allocated to Louisiana. Now with the additional bad news that the Baker bill has been killed, our state remains in a world of hurt.

[...]

Since Katrina, many prominent people have become disillusioned, lost hope and taken their own lives. It makes a tragic situation worse. We have also seen little help from Washington.[...]
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Labels: Katrina

| Posted at 05:00 | PERMA-LINK |

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