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SOTU: Bush Has Neglected Hurricane Reconstruction

By Think Progress on Jan 28th, 2008 at 9:32 pm

SOTU: Bush Has Neglected Hurricane Reconstruction»

Bush said: “Tonight the armies of compassion continue the march to a new day in the Gulf Coast. America honors the strength and resilience of the people of this region. We reaffirm our pledge to help them build stronger and better than before. And tonight I am pleased to announce that in April we will host this year’s North American Summit of Canada, Mexico, and the United States in the great city of New Orleans.”

FACT — KATRINA HAS SLIPPED FROM BUSH’S RADAR: In the 2007 State of the Union, there wasn’t a single mention of Hurricane Katrina or the ongoing Gulf Coast reconstruction effort. [SOTU, 1/23/07]

FACT — GULF COAST STILL STRUGGLING TO RECOVER: “Almost 40% of the people displaced from New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina” lived “below the poverty line last year,” according to a Census Bureau survey. The survey also found that “nearly a third of those who fled the hurricane could not find jobs last year, and thousands more weren’t trying.” [USA Today, 10/8/07]

FACT — BUSH HAS SHORTCHANGED SCHOOL RECONSTRUCTION: The estimated cost of hurricane-related destruction in K-12 and higher education in Mississippi and Louisiana is $6.2 billion,” but “the federal government has provided only $1.2 billion.” Foreign governments contributed $131.5 million to recovery funding for Louisiana colleges, slightly less than the $135 million contributed by the U.S. government. [Southern Education Foundation, 8/29/06]

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7 Responses to “SOTU: Bush Has Neglected Hurricane Reconstruction”

99Luf Balloons Says:

The 3 words I want the next Prez to say as his/her first words after being sowrn in…
ARREST THESE MEN.
January 28th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
mudsharks buddy Says:

lets see…when did Katrina happen?04/05……and he’s just now starting to bring it up?WTF!…………………………I like what 99 luf balloons said….and I agree whole heartedly!
January 28th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
SamR Says:

Hey Bush thinks about New Orleans all the time. He has to fly over it on his way to Texas.
January 28th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
woodguy Says:

Didn’t Shrub put Shooter in charge of reconstruction in New Orleans? How’s that working out for you folks down there?
January 28th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
enough Says:

The people I know in NO are still suffering deeply,
January 28th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
georgia Says:

What a coincidence. Today, CBS was talking about the Bush administration’s “compassion” for Katrina victims too:

CBS News has learned that the Centers for Disease Control, the nation’s top public health agency, suppressed repeated warnings from one of its top scientists, raising questions about whether the CDC bowed to pressure from FEMA to conceal the long-term health risks of formaldehyde in the trailers it distributed to hurricane victims - health risks like cancer and birth defects, CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reports.

A string of internal documents obtained exclusively by CBS News reveal that Dr. Christopher De Rosa, director of the CDC’s Division of Toxicology and Environmental Medicine, told his superiors “there is no safe level of exposure” to formaldehyde in trailers. That warning never made its way into any public report about the trailers.

In addition, Dr. De Rosa wrote in an email that two of his staff members had been directed by FEMA officials to not “address longer term health effects” of formaldehyde in this February 2007 report.

- http://www.cbsnews.com/ stories/ 2008/ 01/ 28/ cbsnews_investigates/ main3761948.shtml
January 28th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
shaker o salt Says:

I disagree that NO has fallen off of Bush’s radar. New Orleans has NEVER been on his radar since day one.
January 29th, 2008 at 1:48 pm

SOTU: Bush Has Neglected Hurricane Reconstruction

SOTU: Bush Has Neglected Hurricane Reconstruction»

7 Responses to “SOTU: Bush Has Neglected Hurricane Reconstruction”

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