The
GOPs Fiscal Policies Turned
A Natural Disaster Into A Man-Made Catastrophe
By Jason Leopold
22 September, 2005
Countercurrents.org
Republicans
like to brag that, as a political party, they are more fiscally responsible
than their Democratic counterparts. Well, thanks to President Bushs
four years in office that theory can now take up residence in the urban
legend department.
If anything, Bushs
tenure as president proves that the Republican tax cuts (which everyone
knows truly benefits the wealthiest one percent), drastically slashing
funds in the federal budget for much needed improvements to the countrys
aging infrastructure (a perfect example being the outdated power grid),
and trying to get away with launching wars on the cheap, have cost taxpayers
and their unborn grandchildren more money than anyone could have ever
imagined.
Simply put, since
he became president, Bush has not invested the funds to fix the cracks
in the countrys façade, despite repeated warnings from
experts and intense lobbying efforts by state officials that ignoring
the problem will make it worse in the long run. Instead, the president
pumped tens of billions of dollars into an unnecessary war that, when
it became evident that attaining victory was tougher than the war planners
imagined, required tens of billions of dollars more just to continue
the fighting.
Only when devastation
and catastrophe struck the nation did the federal government cough up
the funds, but by then there wasnt much of choice and as such
a $1 billion restoration project before a devastating hurricane touched
down in the Gulf Coast has turned into a $200 billion reconstruction
effort and has now saddled taxpayers with economic woes that no tax
cut can relieve.
You dont have
to look too far than New Orleans, a city wiped out by Hurricane Katrina,
as evidence of the Bush administrations and Congress fiscal
irresponsibility. Its a direct result of Washingtons financial
incompetence that the cost for rebuilding The Big Easy is estimated
to top $200 billion.
Flooding is the
most destructive and costly natural disaster in the United States, accounting
for approximately 75 percent of all disasters declared by the President
annually. Approximately 160 million acres, or 7 percent of the United
States are estimated to be floodplains and urban expansion into floodplains
continues at an increasing rate, according to the Public Entity Risk
Institute, a nonprofit think tank that that aims to educate the public
and government on disaster management.
Sadly, no one was
becoming any smarter. Instead of funding flood control projects, the
Bush administration cut the Army Corps of Engineers budget, forcing
the city of New Orleans to loan the agency $1 million back in December
of 2003 to keep one crucial flood control project from shutting down
entirely.
It's not every
day that New Orleans has to bail out the federal government, said
the Times-Picayune in a January 2, 2004 story. But that's exactly
what happened last month, when the Orleans Levee Board voted to advance
the Army Corps of Engineers $1 million to prevent a vital flood control
project from shutting down.
Al Naomi, a senior
project manager for the corps told the Picayune that federal funding
has all but dried up threatening to put hurricane protection plans that
were already underway on hold indefinitely.
Naomi said the corps
has been strained for money, as the federal government's priorities
have shifted to other concerns, such as homeland security, which prior
to Hurricane Katrina meant protection from terrorist threats, and the
war in Iraq.
Before Bush delivered
his better-late-than-never speech to the nation earlier this month in
front of Andrew Jacksons statue in New Orleans, he personally
shot down repeated requests for federal assistance made by Louisiana
officials over the past four years to help repair New Orleans
eroding coastline, the most recent of which was turned down by the president
in June. Even prior hurricanes, such as Ivan, which just missed New
Orleans last September still wreaked havoc on the city similar to that
of Katrina, forcing local officials to evacuate the city and calling
on the federal government for help, was not enough to sway President
Bush to focus on domestic threats instead of pouring all of his energy
into terrorism and the war in Iraq.
So, to hear the
president in a televised speech promise to spend whatever it takes to
rebuild one of the nations great cities is not a sign of progress,
rather its a symbol of the total breakdown of his administration
and an attempt to conceal what could arguably have been a man-made disaster
because of Bushs policies.
The final blow,
however, came in June. Louisiana state officials had been hoping that
a provision included in the Senate energy bill that called for $500
million in offshore energy revenue from the federal government would
finally provide Louisiana and four other coastal states with the funds
it desperately needed to repair its damaged wetlands to protect itself,
among other things, against possible future weather-related disasters.
But the White House
adamantly refused to part ways with the $5 billion it gets from drilling
in the Gulf Coast, its second biggest source of revenue (after income
the Internal Revenue Service brings in) choosing to use most of those
funds to finance the Iraq war.
To ensure that the
message came across crystal clear, Bush personally ordered White House
aides to take the unusual step of sending a letter to House and Senate
negotiators advising them to kill the revenue-sharing plan in the final
version of the energy bill.
The White Houses
Office of Management and Budget released a policy statement paper in
June that said the Bush administration opposes the significant
new funding authorizations and diversion of Outer Continental
Shelf revenue included in a national energy bill being discussed in
Congress.
"Currently
the federal government does share royalties with coastal states -- more
than $3 trillion to date, in fact. Changing this amount only increases
the budget deficit and diminishes the benefit the rest of the nation
receives from these national resources," Scott Milburn, press secretary
for the White Houses Office of Management and Budget, told The
Associated Press in June.
Disheartening,
frustrating, upsetting and just another
nail in my coffin is how Louisiana senators, community leaders
and coastal advocates responded to the news in June that the White House
intervened and advised the Senate to defeat the revenue provision, according
to June 16 report in the Houma, La., Courier.
Ironically the erosion
to the states coastlinewhich became considerably worse over
the past five yearsis due, in part, to oil and gas drilling in
the Gulf, much of which takes place right in New Orleans. Although the
state is responsible for repairing its coastline to support its oil
and gas infrastructure it barely benefits financially from the drilling
that takes place right in its own backyard.
While inland
states enjoy 50 percent of the tax revenue from drilling on their federal
lands, Louisiana gets back a mere $35 million of the $5 billion it contributes
to the federal treasury each year from offshore drilling, or less than
one percent, the Courier said.
In a written statement,
U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., condemned the White House position.
Landrieu said the Bush administration simply cant comprehend why
the state of Louisiana needs compensation for producing a bulk of the
nations energy supply. Its a fact that coastal oil-and-gas-producing
states account for 25 percent of the nations natural gas and 30
percent of oil.
The presidents
statement indicates a failure to appreciate the burdens borne by the
people of Louisiana and other coastal oil-and-gas-producing states,
Landrieu said.
It wasnt long
after the White House issued its statement on the revenue sharing concept
that Louisiana lawmakers predicted an apocalyptic end to the city of
New Orleans.
Clifford Smith,
a Houma, La., civil engineer and coastal advocate who is also a member
of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Mississippi River Commission,
told The Courier in June that without federal assistance New Orleans
could very well drown if it took a direct hit from a hurricane.
"Were
not going to get the kind of recognition and concern we deserve until
we have a disaster," he said.
Jason Leopold is
the author of the explosive memoir, News Junkie, to be released in the
spring of 2006 by Process/Feral House Books. Visit Leopold's website
at www.jasonleopold.com for updates.
© 2005 Jason Leopold