Timeline of both FEMA and flood control projects in New Orleans under Bush

[Guest guest]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_09/007023.php

 

Political Animal

by Kevin Drum

 

 

September 1, 2005

 

CHRONOLOGY....Here's a timeline that outlines the fate of both FEMA

and flood control projects in New Orleans under the Bush

administration. Read it and weep:

 

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January 2001: Bush appoints Joe Allbaugh, a crony from Texas, as

head of FEMA. Allbaugh has no previous experience in disaster management.

 

*

 

April 2001: Budget Director Mitch Daniels announces the Bush

administration's goal of privatizing much of FEMA's work. In May,

Allbaugh confirms that FEMA will be downsized: " Many are concerned

that federal disaster assistance may have evolved into both an

oversized entitlement program.... " he said. " Expectations of when the

federal government should be involved and the degree of involvement

may have ballooned beyond what is an appropriate level. "

 

*

 

2001: FEMA designates a major hurricane hitting New Orleans as

one of the three " likeliest, most catastrophic disasters facing this

country. "

 

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December 2002: After less than two years at FEMA, Allbaugh

announces he is leaving to start up a consulting firm that advises

companies seeking to do business in Iraq. He is succeeded by his

deputy, Michael Brown, who, like Allbaugh, has no previous experience

in disaster management.

 

*

 

March 2003: FEMA is downgraded from a cabinet level position and

folded into the Department of Homeland Security. Its mission is

refocused on fighting acts of terrorism.

 

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2003: Under its new organization chart within DHS, FEMA's

preparation and planning functions are reassigned to a new Office of

Preparedness and Response. FEMA will henceforth focus only on response

and recovery.

 

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Summer 2004: FEMA denies Louisiana's pre-disaster mitigation

funding requests. Says Jefferson Parish flood zone manager Tom

Rodrigue: " You would think we would get maximum consideration....This

is what the grant program called for. We were more than qualified for it. "

 

*

 

June 2004: The Army Corps of Engineers budget for levee

construction in New Orleans is slashed. Jefferson Parish emergency

management chiefs Walter Maestri comments: " It appears that the money

has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security

and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. "

 

*

 

June 2005: Funding for the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army

Corps of Engineers is cut by a record $71.2 million. One of the

hardest-hit areas is the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control

Project, which was created after the May 1995 flood to improve

drainage in Jefferson, Orleans and St. Tammany parishes.

 

*

 

August 2005: While New Orleans is undergoing a slow motion

catastrophe, Bush mugs for the cameras, cuts a cake for John McCain,

plays the guitar for Mark Wills, delivers an address about V-J day,

and continues with his vacation. When he finally gets around to

acknowledging the scope of the unfolding disaster, he delivers only a

photo op on Air Force One and a flat, defensive, laundry list speech

in the Rose Garden.

 

So: A crony with no relevant experience was installed as head of FEMA.

Mitigation budgets for New Orleans were slashed even though it was

known to be one of the top three risks in the country. FEMA was

deliberately downsized as part of the Bush administration's

conservative agenda to reduce the role of government. After DHS was

created, FEMA's preparation and planning functions were taken away.

 

Actions have consequences. No one could predict that a hurricane the

size of Katrina would hit this year, but the slow federal response

when it did happen was no accident. It was the result of four years of

deliberate Republican policy and budget choices that favor ideology

and partisan loyalty at the expense of operational competence. It's

the Bush administration in a nutshell.