Are there any public records available documenting discussion/analysis on federal cuts to the flood control project (SELA) in New Orleans? Specifically I'm asking for congressional committees, hearings, floor debates, memos, budget proposals, budget negotiations, the final budget, etc., or any by the Army Corps of Engineers.
The documents are out there; we need to examine them. And I could personally care less about who ends up looking bad. Our government should be held accountable, no matter which side of the aisle allocated dollars with abject, jaw-dropping indifference to public safety.
I want to know the justification for risking the welfare and lives of almost 500,00 Americans. I want to see the paper trail. There has to be documentation
available:
Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars.
As for the President's accountability, let's judge him by the standard he set in 2000:
LEHRER: Vice President Gore, can you point to a decision, an action you have taken, that illustrates your ability to handle the unexpected, the crisis under fire, et cetera?
GORE: When the action in Kosovo was dragging on...yada yada
LEHRER: Governor Bush?
BUSH: Well, I've been standing up to big Hollywood, big trial lawyers -- what was the question? It was about emergencies, wasn't it?
(LAUGHTER)
LEHRER: Well, it was about -- well, well, OK.
BUSH: I -- you know, as governor, one of the things you have to deal with is catastrophe. I can remember the fires that swept Parker County, Texas. I remember the floods that swept our state. I remember going down to Del Rio, Texas.
And I've got to pay the administration a compliment. James Lee Witt of FEMA has done a really good job of working with governors during times of crisis.
But that's the time when you're tested not only -- it's a time to test your mettle. It's the time to test your heart, when you see people whose lives have been turned upside down. It broke my heart to go to the flood scene in Del Rio where a fellow and his family got completely uprooted.
BUSH: The only thing I knew to do was to get aid as quickly as possible, which we did with state and federal help, and to put my arms around the man and his family and cry with them.
But that's what governors do. Governors are oftentimes found on the front-line of catastrophic situations.
It's obviously well beyond the time for accountability--not only for this President, but the Senate and House as well. The government is simply not protecting its citizens. If we wait until another city is under ten feet of water to ask who and why then we're as much to blame as they are.