done for the people

Bush to seek $40B for next Katrina phase

Wednesday September 7, 2005 12:16 AM

By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush intends to seek as much as $40 billion to cover the next phase of relief and recovery from Hurricane Katrina, congressional officials said Tuesday as leading lawmakers and the White House pledged to investigate an initial federal response widely condemned as woefully inadequate.

One week after the hurricane inflicted devastation of biblical proportions on the Gulf Coast, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the total tab for the federal government may top $150 billion. At the same time, senators in both parties said they suspect price gouging by oil companies in the storm's aftermath.

Relief and recovery needs will be the "number one priority for the foreseeable future,'' pledged House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas as Congress convened after a five-week vacation.

Republicans and Democrats alike heaped criticism on the Federal Emergency Management Administration, the government's front-line responder agency for national disasters. House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi told Bush to his face at the White House that he should fire the agency's director, Michael Brown. "The president thanked me for my suggestion,'' the California Democrat said afterward.

Stung by earlier criticism, Bush invited congressional leaders to the White House for an afternoon meeting, then dispatched several Cabinet officials to the Capitol to brief rank-and-file members. "Bureaucracy is not going to stand in the way of getting the job done for the people,'' Bush told reporters.

House and Senate committee chairmen announced investigations, while House Speaker Dennis Hastert suggested a bipartisan House-Senate probe. "We're ready to get going,'' he said.

Whatever their plans, lawmakers took largely symbolic actions on their first day in the Capitol since the storm - the Senate expressing condolences to victims of the storm and the House observing a moment of silence.

Bush did not specify at the meeting with congressional leaders how much he would request for additional relief. A $10.5 billion down-payment approved last week is "being used at an increasingly rapid pace. We're readying a second installment now and a precise number is currently being determined,'' said Scott Milburn, an Office of Management and Budget spokesman.

The congressional officials who said the total could be as high as $40 billion from Congress did so on condition of anonymity because it was not clear when the formal announcement would be made. Reid said he expected a request in the range of $40 billion to $50 billion.

The unprecedented scope of the destruction swiftly shot relief and recovery items to the top of Congress' autumn to-do list.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. put off planned votes on elimination of the inheritance tax, a GOP priority, and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said the need to address hurricane-related difficulties would further postpone action Bush's long-delayed call for overhauling Social Security.

At the same time, Frist, like Bush, made clear Republicans want John Roberts confirmed as the nation's 17th chief justice in time to take his seat before the Oct. 3 opening of the Supreme Court's term. Hearings on Roberts' nomination open next Monday.

Individual lawmakers outlined numerous suggestions to ease the burden caused by the storm and ensuing New Orleans-area flood that left an unknown number of people dead, uncounted thousands of homes and businesses damaged or destroyed and drove hundreds of thousands of Americans from their homes. Many are poor and normally receive welfare. Others are sick and are now cut off from their health care and prescription medication. Still others are school-age and will suddenly find themselves enrolled in classrooms not built to accommodate them.

Grassley, R-Iowa, said he favors loan relief for farmers whose grain harvest may not reach market on schedule because of difficulties at the New Orleans port. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, called for help with Medicaid costs in states that take in storm victims. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said he favors tax relief for airlines hardhit by a spike in fuel costs.

In the House, DeLay said the GOP leadership hoped to have legislation on the floor this week dealing with Pell grants, reducing red tape for the newly unemployed and making it easier for FEMA to transfer money to private organizations.

The storm disrupted oil drilling and distribution along the Gulf Coast, and the Senate Energy Committee convened a hearing into the rising cost of gasoline. Republicans and Democrats said they suspect price gouging in the aftermath of the storm, but said the government lacks the ability to adequately investigate or prevent such abuses.

"There are growing concerns that oil companies are making too much in profits at the expense of consumers,'' said Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., chairman of the committee.

Rep. Jim McCrery, R-La., criticized FEMA for not assisting non-Red Cross shelters housing thousands of evacuees in his northwest Louisiana district. ``There's no excuse not to have people available for these kinds of needs for these poor people who have been displaced from their homes,'' he said in a telephone interview from Shreveport.

Pelosi's criticism was far sharper.

"The people of the Gulf region were struck by two disasters. First was the hurricane and then the failure of the federal government in time of great need,'' she said... "The buck stops at the president's desk. The president said he's going to lead the investigation into what went wrong. He needs to look only in the mirror.''

Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., who lost a home in the storm, said he hoped investigations would not interfere with recovery. "Please, please, my colleagues, let's don't try to fix blame right now. There'll be a time for that. Let's fix the problems that we've got to deal with now.''

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LOS ANGELES: Pop star Michael Jackson has written a song for the victims of Hurricane Katrina that he hopes to record with other top artists and release as a charity single, his spokeswoman said today.

Vacation is Over... an Open Letter from Michael Moore to George W. Bush

by Michael Moore

Friday, September 2nd, 2005 Dear Mr. Bush: Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag. Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with? Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her! I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike? And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ! On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that. There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland. No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this! You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit. Yours, Michael Moore MMFlint@aol.com www.MichaelMoore.com P.S. That annoying mother, Cindy Sheehan, is no longer at your ranch. She and dozens of other relatives of the Iraqi War dead are now driving across the country, stopping in many cities along the way. Maybe you can catch up with them before they get to DC on September 21st. ###