Theos-Talk Archives (September 2005 Message tt00182)

DISASTER PREPAREDNESS FUNDING CUT BY BUSH ADMINISTRATION

Federal Government Has Neglected Disaster Preparedness, Left 
Enormous Vulnerabilities. Disaster and emergency experts have warned 
for years that governments, especially the federal government, have 
put so much stress on disaster response that they have neglected 
policies to minimize a disaster's impact in advance. Robert Hartwig, 
chief economist for the Insurance Information Institute, said
"It's 
going to be very evident that there were an enormous number of 
vulnerabilities that weren't addressed. There's going to be a lot of 
finger-pointing." [Newhouse News Service, 8/31/05]

Disaster Mitigation Programs Slashed Since 2001. Since 2001, key 
federal disaster mitigation programs, developed over many years, 
have been slashed and tossed aside. FEMA's Project Impact, a
model 
mitigation program created by the Clinton administration, has been 
canceled outright. Federal funding of post-disaster mitigation 
efforts designed to protect people and property from the next 
disaster has been cut in half, and now communities across the 
country must compete for pre-disaster mitigation dollars. [Baltimore 
City Paper, 9/29/04]

In 2003 White House Slashed Mitigation Programs In Half. In 2003, 
Congress approved a White House proposal to cut FEMA's Hazard 
Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) in half. Previously, the federal 
government was committed to invest 15 percent of the recovery costs 
of a given disaster in mitigating future problems. Under the Bush 
formula, the feds now cough up only 7.5 percent. Such post-disaster 
mitigation efforts, specialists say, are a crucial way of minimizing 
future losses. [Gambit Weekly, 9/28/04]

Bush Continuing To Propose Cuts To Army Corps of Engineers. The Army 
Corps of Engineers will be cut in 2006. Bush's 2005 budget
proposal 
called for a 13 percent reduction in the Army Corps of Engineers' 
budget, down to $4 billion from $4.6 billion in fiscal 2004. 
[Associated Press, 2/6/05; Congressional Quarterly Online, 2/3/04]

Under Bush, FEMA Reverted To Pre-Clinton Status As One Of The Worst 
Agencies. Former President Clinton appointed James L. Witt to take 
over FEMA after its poor response to Hurricane Andrew. Witt adopted 
recommendations and FEMA was described as an agency 
reborn: "transformed itself from what many considered to be the 
worst federal agency to among the best." But FEMA under the Bush 
administration has destroyed carefully constructed efforts. After 
the 9/11 attacks the agency's inspector general in 2003
criticized 
portions of FEMA's response, citing "difficulties in
delivering 
timely and effective" mortgage and rental assistance to those in 
need. [USA Today, 6/1/2005]

STATES FORCED TO CARRY MORE OF THE BURDEN

States Expected To Shoulder More Of The Burden In Emergency 
Management With Fewer Funds. "The federal focus on terrorism 
preparedness has left states with an increased responsibility to 
provide support for natural disasters and emergencies," noted a 
report released by the National Emergency Management Association 
(NEMA) this summer. "State budget shortfalls have given emergency 
management programs less to work with, at a time when more is 
expected of them. In fiscal year 2004, the average budget for a 
state emergency management agency was $40.8 million, a 23 percent 
reduction from fiscal year 2003." [Gambit Weekly, 9/28/04]


Bush Tried to Cut Federal Percentage of Large-Scale Natural Disaster 
Preparedness. The administration made a failed attempt to cut the 
federal percentage of large-scale natural disaster preparedness 
expenditures. Since the 1990s, the federal government has paid 75 
percent of such costs, with states and municipalities funding the 
other 25 percent. The White House's attempt to reduce the federal 
contribution to 50 percent was defeated in Congress. [Gambit Weekly, 
9/28/04]

BUSH CRIPPLED HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS IN LOUISIANA

Bush Opposed Necessary Funding For Hurricane Preparedness In 
Louisiana. The Louisiana congressional delegation urged Congress 
earlier this year to dedicate a stream of federal money to 
Louisiana's coast, only to be opposed by the White House. Ultimately 
a deal was struck to steer $540 million to the state over four 
years. The total coast of coastal repair work is estimated to be $14 
billion. In its budget, the Bush administration also had proposed a 
significant reduction in funding for southeast Louisiana's chief 
hurricane protection project. Bush proposed $10.4 million, a sixth 
of what local officials say they need. [Newhouse News Service, 
8/31/05]

Republican Budget Cut New Orleans' Army Corps Of Engineers
Funding 
By A Record $71.2 Million. In fiscal year 2006, the New Orleans 
district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is bracing for a record 
$71.2 million reduction in federal funding. It would be the largest 
single-year funding loss ever for the New Orleans district, Corps 
officials said. "I've been here over 30 years and I've never seen 
this level of reduction," said Al Naomi, project manager for the
New 
Orleans district. The cuts mean major hurricane and flood protection 
projects will not be awarded to local engineering firms. Money is so 
tight the New Orleans district instituted a hiring freeze. The 
freeze is the first of its kind in about 10 years, said Marcia 
Demma, chief of the Corps' Programs Management Branch. [New Orleans 
City Business, 6/6/05]

Landrieu Called Bush's Funding Priorities Shortsided. Landrieu
said 
the Bush Administration is not making Corps of Engineers funding a 
priority. "I think it's extremely shortsighted," Landrieu 
said. "When the Corps of Engineers' budget is cut, Louisiana
bleeds. 
These projects are literally life-and-death projects to the people 
of south Louisiana and they are (of) vital economic interest to the 
entire nation." [New Orleans City Business, 6/6/05]

Emergency Preparedness Director Furious With Project Cuts. A study 
to determine ways to protect the region from a Category 5 hurricane 
has been shelved for now. Terry Tullier, the New Orleans emergency 
preparedness director, said he was furious but not surprised to hear 
that study had been cut from the Bush budget. "I'm all for
the war 
effort, but every time I think about the $87 billion being spent on 
rebuilding Iraq, I ask: What about us?" he said. "Somehow we
need to 
make a stronger case that this is not Des Moines, Iowa, that we are 
so critical that if it hits the fan in New Orleans, everything this 
side of the Rockies will feel the economic shock waves." [Times-
Picayune, 9/22/04; New Orleans City Business, 6/6/05]

Flood Protection Projects Put On Hold Because Of Republican's
2006 
Budget. One of the hardest-hit areas of the New Orleans district's 
budget is the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project. 
SELA's budget is being drained from $36.5 million awarded in 2005 to 
$10.4 million suggested for 2006 by the House of Representatives and 
the president. The Army Corps of Engineers in New Orleans has 
identified $35 million in projects to build and improve levees, 
floodwalls and pumping stations in St. Bernard, Orleans, Jefferson 
and St. Charles parishes. Those projects in a line item where 
funding is scheduled to be cut from $5.7 million this year to $2.9 
million in 2006. "We don't have the money to put the work in the 
field, and that's the problem," Naomi said. [New Orleans City 
Business, 6/6/05]

Senator Landrieu Urged Action After SELA Budget Slashed.
Louisiana's 
congressional delegation assured local officials they would seek 
significant increases for SELA. "We could have lost 100,000 lives 
had Hurricane Ivan hit the mouth of the (Mississippi) River before 
it turned," said Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., alluding to last
year's 
storm that largely spared Louisiana but devastated parts of Alabama 
and Florida. "God has been good, but one of these days a
hurricane 
is going to come and, if we don't get projects . . . finished,
we're 
sitting ducks," she said. [Times-Picayune, 3/11/05]

NATIONAL GUARD AND COAST GUARD UNDERFUNDED AND OVERSTRETCHED

LOUISIANA GUARD WARNED OF EQUIPMENT SHORTAGES BEFORE KATRINA

Louisiana National Guard Said Before Katrina That It Needed 
Equipment Back From Iraq If It Is To Respond To A Natural 
Disaster. "The National Guard needs that equipment back home to 
support the homeland security mission," said Lt. Colonel Pete 
Schneider with the LA National Guard. "You've got combatant 
commanders over there who need it they say they need it, they don't 
want to lose what they h ave, and we certainly understand that it's 
a matter of us educating that combatant commander, we need it back 
here as well," Col. Schneider said. [ABC 26 WGNO, 8/1/05]

NATIONAL GUARD STRETCHED THIN, UNABLE TO FULFILL DUTIES AT HOME

Iraq Has Left National Guard Units At Home Short Of Equipment. 
Already suffering from manpower shortages, the National Guard's 
overstretched forces are being confronted with another problem: not 
enough equipment to supply Guard troops at home. "To fully equip 
troops in Iraq, the Pentagon has stripped local Guard units of about 
24,000 pieces of equipment. That has left Guard units at home, 
already seriously short of gear." [Detroit Free Press, 6/13/05]

Gen. McCaffrey Said We Could Permanently Damage The Guard And 
Reserve. Gen. McCaffrey warned against overstretching Guard and 
Reserve. "[W]e're going to damage fatally the National Guard if
we 
try and continue using Reserve components at this rate. Forty 
percent of that force in Iraq right now is Reserve component. We 
have shot the bull. We've got to back off and build an Army and 
Marine Corps capable of sustaining these operations." [Meet the 
Press, 8/28/05]

Governors Say Long Deployments Leaving Their States Vulnerable.
"[S]
tate officials think continued deployments will have an effect on 
people who sign up for or remain in the Minnesota National Guard. At 
a National Governor's Association meeting…some governors
criticized 
the burden of repeated deployment, saying that the troops' absence 
leaves their states unprotected against things like natural 
disasters. Officials in Idaho and Montana have said they are 
unprepared if forest fires hit their states this summer." [AP, 
8/10/05] 

COAST GUARD'S RESPONSIBILITIES INCREASING WITHOUT ADEQUATE FUNDS

Coast Guard Gave Congress List of $919 Million in Unfunded 
Priorities. The Coast Guard has given Congress a $919 million wish 
list of programs and hardware not funded in the Bush 
Administration's fiscal 2006 budget request. For the first time, the 
Coast Guard has sent Congressional representatives an unfunded 
priorities list - a tally of needed items not included in the fiscal 
2006 request. The list includes an additional $637 million for the 
service's Deepwater recapitalization program; $11.6 million for 
helicopter repairs; $4 million to increase aviation maritime patrol 
hours, and $59 million to renovate shore stations. [Journal of 
Commerce Online, 5/11/05]

Coast Guard Faced With Helicopter Problems. The head of the US Coast 
Guard told Congress his equipment is failing at unacceptable rates. 
Despite increases in spending on maintenance, the agency's older 
large craft -- called cutters -- experience equipment failures 
capable of ruining a mission almost 50 percent of the time, 
according to Coast Guard officials. Further, the agency's HH-65 
helicopters suffered a rate of 329 mishaps per 100,000 flight hours 
in 2004, way over the Federal Aviation Administration's acceptable 
standard of 1 mishap per 100,000 hours. [UPI, 6/10/05; USA Today, 
7/6/05]

Commandant Says Coast Guard Short On Resources. Coast Guard 
Commandant Adm. Thomas H. Collins said, "Do we have more business 
than we have resources? Yes." The Coast Guard has put the cost of 
implementing safety regulations laid out by Congress at $7.3 billion 
over the next ten years. The Bush administration only asked for $46 
million for aid to the ports in the 2005 budget. [Budget of the 
United States, www.omb.gov; House Approps Cmte Transcript, 3/31/04; 
Washington Post, 4/2/03; Boston Globe, 6/30/04]

Quoted from:
http://www.swingstateproject.com/2005/08/katrina_proves.php