Bush said: “And taxpayers expect this work to be done honestly and wisely – so we will have a team of inspector generals reviewing all expenditures.”

FACT — BUSH ADMINISTRATION DEMOTED CORRUPTION WHISTLEBLOWER: The New York Times on Bunnatine Greenhouse’s reassignment: “A top Army contracting official who criticized a large, noncompetitive contract with the Halliburton Company for work in Iraq was demoted Saturday”¦” [New York Times, 8/29/05]

Bush said: “Hundreds of thousands of people from across this region will need to find longer-term housing.”

FACT – ADMINISTRATION PLANS TO PUT PEOPLE IN TRAILER PARKS: Rather than providing Section 8 housing vouchers, Bush has requested mobile-home manufacturers to “supply tens of thousands of travel trailers and mobile homes” for victims. [Washington Post, 9/5/05]

Bush said: “To every person who has served and sacrificed in this emergency, I offer the gratitude of our country.”

FACT — BUSH ORDER ALLOWS FEDERAL CONTRACTORS TO PAY LESS THAN PREVAILING WAGE: President Bush issued an order suspending application of the Bacon-Davis Act which “set a minimum pay scale for workers on federal contracts by requiring contractors to pay the prevailing or average pay in the region. Suspension of the act will allow contractors to pay lower wages.” [Washington Post, 9/9/05]

FACT — BUSH WORKING TO SUSPEND WAGE SUPPORTS FOR SERVICE WORKERS: The White House is working to “suspend wage supports for service workers in the hurricane zone as it did for construction workers on federal contracts.” [Washington Post, 9/14/05]

ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT TO THE NATION

As Prepared for Delivery

Good evening. I am speaking to you from the city of New Orleans – nearly empty, still partly under water, and waiting for life and hope to return. Eastward from Lake Pontchartrain, across the Mississippi coast, to Alabama and into Florida, millions of lives were changed in a day by a cruel and wasteful storm. Read more

ThinkProgress has obtained talking points distributed to right-wing pundits in advance of tonight’s speech by President Bush.

Our favorite:

Many parts of this will be chalked up to the fact it was one of the worst storms our country has ever faced.

So much for “full responsibility.” Check the rest of the talking points here.

Pulitzer Prize-winning Times-Picayune reporter John McQuaid and Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) answered questions today from 4pm-6pm. Check out the transcript.

is in charge of Gulf Coast reconstruction efforts.

Check out Think Progress later today for special Katrina coverage:

4 pm ET – Live chat with Conyers and McQuaid: Pulitzer Prize-winning Times-Picayune reporter John McQuaid and Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) will take your questions in a live chat this afternoon moderated by Think Progress’ Nico Pitney. McQuaid co-authored “Washing Away,” the five-part series in 2002 that predicted much of the chaos that unfolded in New Orleans.

9 pm ET – Live-blogging President Bush’s speech: President Bush will address the nation tonight in a primetime speech about Katrina, and Think Progress will be pushing back with real-time research-intensive rapid response.

could generate $10 billion for Katrina efforts, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

For more than a year, L. Paul “Jerry” Bremer was the Bush administration official in charge of the multi-billion dollar reconstruction of Iraq. It was a disaster. Yesterday’s Washington Post helps explain the problem. Bremer is overwhelmed by the prospect of remodeling his kitchen:

“It works, but I don’t have a decent stove,” Bremer says. “There’s a lot that argues for doing the kitchen over, but I don’t look forward to three months with it in an uproar.”

This is the guy Bush picked to lead a multi-billion dollar effort to rebuild an entire country.