Bush blasts cut in funds for Katrina rebuilding
NEW ORLEANS -- President Bush, on a Gulf Coast inspection tour that included his first visit to this city's storm-shattered Lower Ninth Ward, bluntly accused Congress yesterday of underfunding the repairs and called for speedy action to make good on federal commitments.
Bush said Congress has been slow to provide funding to rebuild housing destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and, while pledging to make the levees ''equal or better than they were before" the storm, attacked a congressional decision to redirect $1.5 billion from his request to repair the region's flood protection system to other projects.
As Bush was taking issue with Congress, lawmakers from his own party were delivering a powerful rebuff to the president, joining with Democrats in an effort to kill the administration's plan to turn over management of six US ports to Dubai Ports World, a company owned by the United Arab Emirates. The House Appropriations Committee voted, 62 to 2, to scuttle the plan, with just two Republicans siding with the administration.
The juxtaposition of the president's words and the House committee action provided telling example of the state of relations between the White House and the Republican-controlled Congress, a relationship that could deteriorate further as lawmakers worry about the impact of Bush's low approval ratings could mean to them as they seek to maintain their majorities in November.
The president's trip to the Gulf Coast was his 10th since Hurricane Katrina devastated the region in August. ''Congress heard our message about improving the levees but they shortchanged the process by about $1.5 billion," Bush said, as he called for the money to be restored.
A $19 billion measure pending before the House and expected to win approval would restore the $1.5 billion for levee rebuilding Bush wants and would include $4.2 billion for grants to help residents rebuild their homes or relocate.
''I fully understand -- and I hope our country understands -- the pain and agony that the people of New Orleans and Louisiana and the parishes surrounding New Orleans went through," he said. ''But I think people would be impressed by the desire for the people in this part of the country to pick up and move on and rebuild."
His inspection came as his administration's response to the disaster continued to come under fire by Democrats in Congress. In recent weeks, the federal government's sluggish response to the disaster has been roundly criticized in reports produced both by House Republicans and the White House itself.
Also, independent specialists have criticized the levee repair work, saying it is being done with substandard materials -- which the administration disputes.
''How can the nation have any confidence that the administration is capable of getting the recovery right?" said Senator Edward M. Kennedy, the Massachusetts Democrat. ''Congress has an obligation to monitor the federal role with special vigilance, to be sure the rebuilding effort is as effective as possible as quickly as possible. The long-suffering people of New Orleans and other victims of Katrina deserve no less."
In Washington, a Senate investigative panel held its final hearing into the government's flawed response before releasing its report later this month.
