Pulled from story on MoveOn protest. EFL:
Tom Matzzie, Washington director of MoveOn.org Political Action, also focused his criticism on the Bush administration, calling the federal response to Hurricane Katrina "a national disgrace.
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Speaking with Cybercast News Service after the event, Matzzie implied that cuts by the Bush administration might have been responsible for the breaching of New Orleans levees. "The administration, OMB (Office of Management and Budget) cut out of the budget, what was it, $71 million in funding for the levee upgrades in Louisiana. OMB is a function of the White House, the OMB director reports to the White House," Matzzie said. "And, that money could have been used to upgrade the levees."
But records Cybercast News Service obtained from the U.S. Senate's Energy and Water Development Subcommittee paint a different picture. According to an analysis of funding for Corps of Engineers projects from fiscal years 2001 through 2005, Louisiana was the top recipient of funding in the country, getting $1.9 billion of the Corps' $22.9 billion budget.The three Corps flood control projects surrounding New Orleans received a total of $391 million in direct funding during that five-year period.
Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), believes there was more than enough money to correct any deficiencies in the levee system, even without funding the Corps of Engineers. But, in his opinion, much of the money was wasted. "Like all the other appropriations bills Energy and Water has been filled with pork," Schatz complained. "It's the nature of the problem in Washington that members of Congress like spending money, especially on pork-barrel projects, and that means that significant national priorities are ignored." CAGW identified nearly $631 million in what it considers pork-barrel projects just in the 2005 Energy and Water Appropriations Act. The group's 2005 "Pig Book" details millions of dollars for such projects that went to Louisiana following the efforts of the state's congressional delegation, especially Democratic U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu and former Republican U.S. Rep. and current Sen. David Vitter.
"$43,813,000 for projects in the state of Senate appropriator Mary Landrieu and the district of House appropriator David Vitter, including: $11,450,000 for the J. Bennett Johnston Waterway ($9,000,000 for construction and $2,450,000 for operation and maintenance," CAGW states. The group also notes that on Jan. 9, 2000, the Washington Post said the waterway "still carries less than 0.1 percent of the commercial traffic on America's government-run river transport system - even though it receives a remarkable 3.4 percent of the system's federal funds." The list of projects CAGW considered wasteful also included $2,000,000 for a "sugar-based ethanol bio-refinery" at Louisiana State University; and $500,000 for "alternative fuel plant construction" in Livingston Parish.
Schatz said he isn't sure if the death and destruction caused by Katrina will cause members of Congress to "wake up and smell the coffee you can't drink in New Orleans anymore. "It is just outrageous," Schatz concluded, "and I don't know [that it's] shocking enough to members that they will actually forego some of their local projects." CAGW is asking members of Congress to sign a pledge not to add extraneous funding to federal relief bills for hurricane victims. Four members of Congress had signed the document as of Thursday. Another eight had expressed their intent to take the pledge, but had not yet returned a signed copy to the CAGW offices. |