Times editorial - Miriam V.

Katrina's Assault on Washington - New York Times
The New York Times

September 3, 2005

Katrina's Assault on Washington

Do not be misled by Congress's approval of $10.5 billion in relief for the
Hurricane Katrina victims. That's prompted by the graphic shock of the news
coverage
from New Orleans and the region, where the devastation catapults daily, in
heartbreaking contrast with the slo-mo bumblings of government.

There are dozens of questions Americans will demand to have answered once
this emergency has passed. If the Homeland Security Department was so ill
prepared
for a natural disaster that everyone knew was coming, how is it equipped to
handle other kinds of crises? Has the war in Iraq drained the nation of
resources
that it needs for things like flood prevention? Is the National Guard ready
to handle a disaster that might be even worse, like a biological or nuclear
attack?

One thing is certain: if President Bush and his Republican Congressional
leaders want to deal responsibly with a historic disaster of this scale,
they must
finally try the path of honestly shared national sacrifice. If they respond
by passing a few emergency measures and then falling back on their plans to
enact more tax cuts, America will have to confront the fact that it is stuck
with leaders who neither know, nor care, how to lead.

The pre-Katrina plan for this Congressional season was to enact more
upper-bracket tax cuts for the least needy, while cutting into the
safety-net programs
for sick and impoverished Americans. These are the very entitlement programs
most needed by the sudden underclass of hundreds of thousands of hurricane
refugees cast adrift like Dustbowl Okies. Will Congress dare to go forward
with these retrogressive plans in the face of the suffering from Katrina?
Its
woeful track record suggests that, shockingly, the answer may be yes.

G.O.P. leaders are set to mandate billions in Medicaid and antipoverty cuts
this month, while the Senate is poised to try again to repeal the estate
tax,
a monumental folly that will deprive the deficit-ridden government of an
estimated $750 billion in vital revenue in the first decade. The theory is
that
over the long run, the missing money will "starve the beast" and force
Washington to make huge cuts in federal programs. The public has never
bought this,
but as long as the economy held up, it was willing to ignore the long-term
implications.

That can't be the case now, when those implications are sitting in filthy
refugee centers, when the streets of New Orleans are under water and when
the
nation must take care of hundreds of thousands of homeless people. Yet
President Bush has still managed to repeat his no-taxes mantra.

Senator Mary Landrieu, the Louisiana Democrat, is now fighting for every
available dollar to restore her state. Republicans had been wooing Ms.
Landrieu
as a possible supporter of the estate tax repeal. Now, we presume, she has
higher priorities.

Washington's inspiration must now be the individual rescuers in New Orleans,
who have labored so bravely and selflessly, as well as the charitable deeds
of local and state governments. Houston's offer of shelter at the Astrodome
has put self-regarding national politicians to shame.

Congress and the president had better get the message: an extraordinary time
is upon the nation. The annihilation in New Orleans is an irrefutable sign
that the national tax-cut party is over. So is the idea that American voters
cannot be required to accept sacrifice or inconvenience, no matter how great
the crisis. This country is better than that.