FCNL Legislative Alert -- Katrina Disaster: Principles Should Guide Federal
Response - FCNL

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Katrina Disaster: Principles Should Guide Federal Response - FCNL

Six weeks after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast of the United
States, the hope that this tragedy would lead Congress to meaningfully
address
poverty and inequality is slipping away.

The federal effort to care for those immediately effected by Katrina remains
inadequate and ineffective, with press reports suggesting that billions of
dollars in contracts have been given away in uncompetitive contracts to the
same companies that won no-bid contracts in Iraq. While refugees remain
homeless,
living in expensive hotel rooms and wondering when they might to begin to
rebuild their lives, government aid efforts have focused billions on
temporary
housing programs that often don't work and assistance programs that in many
cases are not helping.

In the immediate aftermath of Katrina, President Bush and most members of
Congress from both parties agreed that this tragedy at least has served to
remind
the nation of the poverty and inequality that still affects many people in
the richest country on earth. But the first attempts to address the
underlying
poverty and inequality have been derailed by partisan wrangling and efforts
to score political points, which come at the expense of the poor.

"We've had a stunning reversal in just a few weeks," Robert Greenstein,
director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, told the New York
Times
this week. "We've gone from a situation in which we might have a
long-overdue debate on deep poverty to the possibility, perhaps even the
likelihood, that
low-income people will be asked to bear the costs. I would find it
unimaginable if it wasn't actually happening."

Some government anti-poverty programs have proven track records of success
in reducing the numbers of poor people living in this country, examined in a
series of reports
the center recently released.

But instead of increasing funding for programs with a proven record of
helping the poor, the Congress is debating proposals to create tax free
zones for
businesses and school vouchers for students, while the federal government is
suspending programs to help minority businesses and pay local prevailing
wage
for workers. The Congress is considering cuts in programs such as Medicare
and Section 8 housing programs for the poor to offset the tens of billions
of
dollars being approved for hurricane relief.

We at FCNL urge the administration and Congress to adhere to the following
principles in planning and implementing the recovery for Gulf Coast
communities:

* Basic Human Needs First: Generously assist state and local governments in
meeting the basic human needs of the displaced;

* Local Business Preference: Give preference in federal contracting to local
firms; require other federal contractors to subcontract with local
businesses
and to hire local workers; maintain and enforce all federal labor standards,
including prevailing wage statutes;

* Community Based Solutions: Involve local residents in planning and
implementing recovery and reconstruction for their own communities -
including low-income
and African American residents;

* Maintain Federal Protections: Maintain and enforce all federal
environmental, public health, and safety statutes;

* Use Nature to Control Nature: Restore wetlands and natural buffers to
prevent hurricane and flood damage;

* Prevent Disaster Profiteering: Assure close congressional oversight,
competitive bidding, and transparency for all federal grants and contracts;

* Independent Investigations for Accountability: Initiate an impartial,
independent investigation concerning the multiple failures of local, state,
and
federal agencies to protect the general welfare before, during, and after
these disasters; hold people accountable; fix the problems;

* Offset Disaster Relief by Cutting Fat: Pay for relief and reconstruction
efforts by reducing runaway military spending and foregoing further tax cuts
for the wealthiest-- not by cutting funding for programs that serve the
poorest and most vulnerable. For
more information on military spending
see the FCNL website. For more information on
tax cuts,
check out the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities

Poverty and inequality can be addressed by Congress and this administration
but not by the disaster profiteering. A few greedy contractors and
corporations
are giving business an undeserved bad name. Most businesses act responsibly
and create jobs. However, the corporate feeding at the federal trough, at
the
expense of the most vulnerable people affected by this disaster, should
create outrage and preventative action by your members of Congress. These
principles
suggest one way to implement that prevention and to promote a healing and
restorative response to those people who have been battered and displaced by
Katrina.

Posted by Miriam V.