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Dean On President Bush’s Katrina PR Offensive

August 25, 2006

Next week marks the one year Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, one of the worse natural disasters in our nation's history. President Bush's mishandling of Hurricane Katrina was a defining moment in the Bush Presidency, which destroyed Americans' confidence in President Bush's ability to deal with a crisis. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that 70 percent of Americans believe the people affected by Hurricane Katrina still have not gotten the help they need and 43 percent believe the federal government failed to learn from Hurricane Katrina and that the nation is no better prepared for a major disaster. [KFF, August 2006]

More troubling, one year later, New Orleans' infrastructure is still in disarray and many in the region are still waiting for help, despite President Bush's repeated promises. This week, instead of reporting on the progress of the reconstruction in the area, President Bush downplayed expectations. "I also want people to remember that a one-year anniversary is just that, because it's going to require a long time to help these people rebuild," Bush said.

Next week the Bush White House will begin a public relations offensive designed to paper over their failures during and after Katrina, but Americans already aren't buying President Bush’s empty rhetoric.

"The American People don't have confidence in the direction the country is heading, because they no longer have confidence, after Katrina, in the person heading the country. They have lost confidence in the President's ability to lead and he hasn't recovered politically," said Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. "The residents of the Gulf Coast need real help, not more political spin from the Bush White House. This President has repeatedly broken his promise to the people affected by Hurricane Katrina to help them recover from this tragic disaster. We cannot forget our fellow Americans in the Gulf Coast, thousands of whom are still suffering and trying to move ahead with their lives. Democrats have fought for the resources the Gulf Coast needs to rebuild and remain committed to helping residents resurrect their communities."

See below for a new document from DNC Research:

Despite their claims from the White House that "we have learned from last year's inadequate response and today are better prepared for future disasters" and "federal disaster response capability has greatly advanced," the record shows a different story.

FEMA Trailers Took Forever To Arrive. As of Jan. 24, 2006, the Federal Emergency Management Agency had 2,796 occupied trailers in Orleans Parish, or 14 percent of the 19,709 requested since Katrina tore through. Almost 80 percent of those, 2,231, are installed on a homeowner's property, FEMA said. At the current pace, every storm-tossed New Orleans resident seeking temporary housing in a trailer should have one in time for the ceremonies marking Hurricane Katrina's third anniversary in August 2008. [Times-Picayune (New Orleans), 1/28/06]

In Jackson Square, Bush Promised A Fight Agaist Poverty. Bush noted "there's also some deep, persistent poverty in this region...let us rise above the legacy of inequality." He added, "Americans want the Gulf Coast not just to survive, but to thrive; not just to cope, but to overcome." Bush proposed programs, notably Workers Recovery Accounts and Urban Homesteading, to address poverty. [President Bush, 9/15/05]

• One Year Later, Worker Recovery Accounts Do Not Exist. The Worker Recovery Accounts program, with an estimated cost of $650 million, was last referenced by the Administration in a November OMB report. The program was also introduced as H.R. 3976 in October and sent out to committee in November. The last action, refering it to a subcomittee, was taken on November 17th 2005. [Chicago Tribune, 1/13/06; http://thomas.loc.gov/, accessed 8/10/06]
  
  
• One Year Later, the Urban Homesteading Act Is Not A Law. The House version, H.R.4514, was introduced by Louisiana Congressman Jindal in December. The last major action taken on the bill, referring the legislation to a House subcommittee, occurred on January 10, 2005. The Senate version only saw one day of action. It was introduced and referred to subcommittee on December 13th, 2005. No action took place subsequently. [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:h.r.04514:, accessed 8/10/06; http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:s.02088:, accessed 8/10/06]

56 Percent Say Federal Government Has Not Done Enough to Help Restore Services; 75 Percent of African-American Evacuees Say So. Fifty-six percent of Katrina evacuees surveyed said the federal government has not done enough to help state and local governments restore services in the affected areas and 30 percent said it has. 75 percent of black respondents said the federal government had not done enough to help state and local officials. [Washington Post, 8/20/06]

Most Federal Funds Have Not Been Spent, And Those That Have Have Mostly Gone to Emergency Relief-Not Long-Term Reconstruction. National Journal reported that in a late July report to Congress, FEMA announced that it had provided about $37 billion for relief following three hurricanes: Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, which struck Florida in October 2005. The report's fine print, however, made clear that just a little more than half of the $37 billion was actually "spent." The rest had simply been set aside -- in budgetary terms, "allocated" -- for hurricane relief. In addition, the overwhelming majority of the cash that the agency distributed was for emergency-response activities having nothing to do with long-term reconstruction. [National Journal, 8/12/06]

After Rejecting Louisiana Rebuilding Plan, White House Approved $9 Billion Program to Repair and Rebuild-Money Is Just Now Becoming Available. "In January the administration rejected a $30 billion plan for Louisiana as too expensive. The White House also balked at subsidizing the reconstruction of homes in flood plains, a policy that would have excluded all but a small fraction of Louisiana homeowners whose houses were significantly damaged. The state finally won funding in July for the $9 billion 'Road Home' program, which pays homeowners up to $150,000 either to repair their damaged property or rebuild elsewhere in the state. People who leave the state are eligible for a 60 percent buyout. The money, which is being distributed through escrow accounts to prevent fraud, is just becoming available a year after the hurricane." [AP, 8/19/06]

Bush Waited Two Months Before Asking for Money For Levee Repair and Then Asked for An Inadequate Amount. Bush did not ask Congress to allocate any money at all for levee repair until Oct. 28, two months after Katrina. The requested amount, $1.6 billion, was less than a quarter of what the Corps had already stated was necessary. [Fortune, 8/21/06]

Levees Only Repaired Where Completely Broken, Leaving City "Vulnerable." Ed Link, the University of Maryland professor who headed the the Army Corp of Engineers' Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force, said that post-Katrina repairs have strengthened the parts of the levee system that failed. But he warned that until undamaged parts of the system are improved, "the New Orleans metropolitan area remains vulnerable to any storm creating surge and wave conditions similar to those of Katrina." [Times Picayune (New Orleans), 6/6/06]

Pumps Operate At Reduced Capacity. The pumps at London Avenue, which were designed to carry a maximum of 8,000 cfs of drainage into Lake Pontchartrain, will be able to move 2,800 cfs of water once they are repaired and currently the portable pumps in placewill provide only half of that capacity.Matt McBride, an engineer whose Broadmoor home flooded during Katrina, said. "So once again, with a heavy rainfall, the corps will drown an unprepared, unsuspecting New Orleans." [Times Picayune, 8/24/06]

Increased Funding Was A Reaction To A Surge In Violent Crime. The New Orleans murder rate in July was double that of July 2005, the month before Hurricane Katrina struck. The New York Times attributed Gonzales' announcement to this upswing. [New York Times, 8/22/06]

Port Recovered Without Federal Help. A year after Katrina, the Port of New Orleans has not received any federal or Louisiana Recovery Authority funds for repairs, rebuilding or relocating tenants. In spite of this, the Port of New Orleans ship calls are at pre-Katrina levels, said Chris Bonura, port spokesperson; some cargoes have dropped off, but others have increased. In the first five months of 2006, the port handled 4.1 million tons of general cargo. For the same period in 2005, the port handled 4.3 million tons. "So, we're back to about 94 percent of pre-Katrina general cargo, and that's without the APM container terminal," Bonura said. [Gulf Shipper, 08/28/06]

Traffic Lights Have Not Been Restored. Many city traffic lights are dead and others blink like Christmas lights. [New Orleans CityBusiness (New Orleans, LA), 5/29/06]

The Water Supply Is Still Broken. The New Republic reported, New Orleans' "municipal water system hemorrhages 85 million gallons of water per day." And while water service is generally back, the pressure is often very low due to leaks in the city's storm-fractured system. [New Republic, 8/14/06; Los Angeles Times, 7/15/06]

Schools Have No Books; Schedules and Class Locations Unclear. At the end of the 2005-2006 school year, 25 of 128 New Orleans public schools had reopened and just 12,000 of the city's 60,000 students had returned. In the, 57 schools with physical space for up to 34,000 students and staff for 22,000 students were predicted to open in August and September for 2006-2007 academic year. However, the day before the first of 57 New Orleans public schools opened, state officials warned that parents and students are likely to face a messy first day. Many schools were not sure which buildings they will be in. A few schools did not know when they would be able to start classes. And dozens of others were not certain whether the thousands of desks and books they’ve ordered will arrive in time for the first day. [Los Angeles Times, 7/15/06; http://www.nola.com/archives/t-p/index.ssf?/base/news-6/1154843399102520.xml&coll=1, accessed 8/11/06]

Transportation Is Difficult As Public Transit Is Minimal, Gas Isn't Available, And Roads Are Falling Apart. "Only 17 percent of buses in New Orleans are in use, and gas service is reaching just 41 percent of the pre-Katrina customer base, according to Amy Liu, a scholar at Washington's Brookings Institution. The water and sewage system is in desperate shape. With more than two-thirds of the water pumped into the pipes leaking into the ground, sinkholes are becoming more common." [Bloomberg, 8/21/06]

Katrina Cleanup Still Far From Complete, But Cost Has Ballooned. The AP wrote, "The [cleanup] job still isn't done. More than 100 million cubic yards of debris have been cleared from the region affected by Katrina. So far the government has spent $3.6 billion, a figure that might have been considerably smaller had the contracts for debris removal been subject to competitive bidding. Working through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, FEMA gave each of four companies contracts worth up to $500 million to clear hurricane debris. This spring government inspectors reported that the companies - AshBritt Inc. of Pompano Beach, Fla., Phillips and Jordan Inc. of Knoxville, Tenn., Ceres Environmental Services Inc. of Brooklyn Park, Minn. and ECC Operating Services Inc. of Burlingame, Calif. - charged the government as much as four to six times what they paid their subcontractors who actually did the work." [AP, 8/19/06]