Feds Look Toward Long-term Katrina Relief Legislation
WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 — As the floodwaters on the Gulf Coast recede, the federal government is beginning to look beyond providing short-term relief for Hurricane Katrina’s victims and toward the long-term effects and possible legislation resulting from the tragedy.
“When you have a disaster as widespread as Katrina you can’t have multiple levels of bureaucracy fighting or having to make decisions and have different responses in different states,” Representative Charles Bass, R-N.H., said. “I think that will be one of the major debating points, and there will probably be legislation on that issue.”
While there is wide agreement that there were problems surrounding the government’s response to Katrina, differences remain over what the legislative response should be to those problems.
“The principal problems had to do with planning, leadership and implementation of existing plans,” Senator John Sununu, R-N.H., said. “I don’t think any legislation in the world will solve the problems of poor leadership, poor planning or poor execution on the part of elected officials.”
President Bush’s vow to give major monetary aid to the damaged regions in the Gulf Coast, as well as the temporary halt Katrina brought to other legislation in Congress, including tax cuts and social security reform, means that the storm’s effect will be felt on a financial level nationwide.
“We should pay for it, we should not deficit finance it,” Senator Judd Gregg, R-N.H., said in a statement Thursday, noting that he didn’t think it was fair for one generation to pass the cost of a catastrophic event on to another generation. On the other hand, he said, “the majority of additional spending will be the rebuilding of roads and schools and infrastructure which will benefit many generations, so maybe you can argue that money can be borrowed to pay for that.”
For New Hampshirites, the long-term effects could come in the form of changes in government agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“If there are systemic reforms affecting FEMA, it will obviously have an impact on every single FEMA agency,” said Rep. Bass, who added that until there is a disaster it is impossible to know how New Hampshire could be affected by something like Katrina. “It might affect the relationship that FEMA has with local police and fire departments.”
Much of the current concern is focused not only on aid for the Gulf region, but also on the prevention of mismanagement of government funds.
Sen. Gregg is particularly interested in the Katrina recovery and rehabilitation effort and is working on a proposal to create an oversight authority within the Office of the President to monitor the use of federal funds related to the disaster. The authority would be located in one of the states in the region.
“We must make sure that the people and areas that were directly affected by the storm get the help they need to get on their feet and get their communities rebuilt,” Sen. Gregg said in a Sept.14 press release. “At the same time, we must take every precaution to ensure that these dollars are spent wisely.”
Sen. Sununu is working on similar legislation and has co-sponsored a bill with Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, to create a single inspector general who, he said, would have the power to “investigate allocation of funds, allegations of fraud and to make sure that whatever money is spent is done so wisely and effectively.”
####
