WASHINGTON – Congress approved a $10.5 billion down payment Friday to
cover the immediate rescue and relief efforts for victims of Hurricane
Katrina's sweep across the Gulf, amid complaints that the government's
response has been inadequate.
The bill passed the House by voice vote after Senate approval late
Thursday. It comes as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the
government's front-line responder in natural disasters, is spending more
than $500 million a day on Katrina.
The new aid averts the possibility that money might run out before
Congress reconvenes on Tuesday.
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said the bill was only the
first step toward a "comprehensive, long-term response to the Katrina
disaster." He promised Congress would provide more humanitarian aid,
combat gasoline price gouging, provide assistance to businesses and the
unemployed, rebuild infrastructure and utility systems, and help local
law enforcement.
"Make no mistake, this $10.5 billion is initial relief," DeLay said.
"I want to thank the Congress for acting as quickly as you did," Bush
said of the $10.5 billion measure, which he was signing into law later
Friday. "But I've got go to warn everybody that's just the beginning."
The bill combines $10 billion in new FEMA funds – enough to last just a
few weeks – and $500 million for the Pentagon's role in the relief
mission. The FEMA funds, among other uses, will finance food and
emergency shelter, medical care, debris removal, generators and cash
payments to hurricane victims. FEMA will also funnel funds to other
federal agencies such as the Army Corps of Engineers, responsible for
repairing levees around New Orleans and pumping out the flood waters
inundating the city.
Long-term costs were anyone's guess. For starters, it could be months
before New Orleans is cleared of flood waters, and until then, it's
impossible to determine long-term needs. Many areas have yet to receive
visits from federal officials.
Frustration with the rescue effort – and the continued lack of help for
many of the mostly poor and black victims in New Orleans – reached a
boil as the Congressional Black Caucus blasted Bush's handling of the
crisis.
"I'm ashamed of America. I'm ashamed of our government," said Rep.
Carolyn Kilpatrick, D-Mich. "I'm outraged by the lack of response by our
federal government."
To help ease some of the economic pain from the storm, the Department of
Labor announced Friday that it is providing an emergency grant of up to
$50 million to create 10,000 temporary cleanup and recovery jobs for
displaced workers in Mississippi.
"Workers in these temporary jobs will be involved in the provision of
food, shelter and other services to fellow Mississippians," said Labor
Secretary Elaine Chao.
An increasingly polarized atmosphere has defined Washington this year,
but as in response to the Sept. 11, 2001 terror assaults, erstwhile
political adversaries teamed up to ensure speedy passage of the aid
legislation.
A skeleton crew of lawmakers was all that was needed to advance the
bill; to hold recorded votes could have delayed it as lawmakers would
have had to scramble back to Washington from their August vacation.
Still, at least one prominent politician got off script Thursday – House
Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill.
Asked in an interview with the Daily Herald, a suburban Chicago paper,
whether it makes sense to spend billions rebuilding a city that lies
below sea level, a reference to New Orleans, Hastert replied, "I don't
know. That doesn't make sense to me."
Hastert later issued a statement saying he was not "advocating that the
city be abandoned or relocated," but he did not travel to Washington to
preside over the debate.
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