Saturday, March 10, 2007

"Unnamed Republican Senators" blocking Stafford Act Waiver 

T-P:
Barring a last-minute change of heart, it appears the Senate won't amend a homeland security bill to waive a requirement that Louisiana pay 10 percent of federal disaster funds related to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Friday that opposition from unnamed Republican senators is blocking efforts to attach the waiver. But he promised that he would include similar waiver language in a supplemental spending bill for the war in Iraq that should be on the Senate floor within the next two weeks.

In this WSJ article, Chris Cooper described how the onerous Stafford Act is slowing the recovery down. New york City got a Stafford Act waiver after 9/11, and Florida got a waiver after Hurricane Andrew. President Bush, however, refuses to give a waiver to Louisiana after Katrina, and now unnamed Republican Senators are preventing legislation from being amended so Louisiana can speed up its recovery.

Da po blog has more.

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posted by oyster @ 8:55 AM
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7 Comments:

I'll bet good money that Mitch McConnell is on this. Every time something that's raw, pure evil happens in the Senate, he's involved. EVERY time.

By Blogger Mr. Clio, at 9:24 AM  

Not completely related, but I had to share. I was watching "Return of the Living Dead" last night (the first, good, one.) If you don't know the premise: decades ago, the Army mistakenly shipped, to a medial supply warehouse, some canisters containing a toxin which brought the dead back to life.

One of the workers at the supply house was showing them to the new guy, and the newbie asked him if the canisters could leak. The other guy said: "Are you kidding? These were designed by the Army Corps of Engineers!" and banged on the side of the canister which...proceeded to leak! I choked on my drink!

It was funny in 1985, but today...it's a whole different kind of funny.

By Blogger saintlywife, at 1:28 PM  

IDIOTS.

What d'ya think happened with the legislators who are opposing this waiver? Did they balk at having to wait in line at Galatoire's for a table or something?

By Blogger Leigh C., at 4:37 PM  

It makes ya just wanna scream, "IT'S THE STAFFORD ACT, STUPID!" Thanks for tryin'. *sigh*

By Anonymous Sophmom, at 7:12 PM  

How hard is it for Sen. Vitter's office (or LA reporters) to make 48 phone calls to track down who has the hold on the bill?

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Intertubes) had anonymous hold on last year's Obama-Coburn bill that started a public database of all earmarks and were publicly shamed into dropping the hold.

These holds aren't hard to ferret out. You just gumshoe it one Senator at a time getting them on the record as not being behind the hold and then the heat gets turned up on the culprit as you get more and more names on the record. Ultimately the guilty Senator has to either 1) defend their position in the light of day or 2) drop the hold.

By Blogger joejoejoe, at 9:34 PM  

I was going to guess Ted "the- Intertubes-can-piggy-back-on-the-bridge -to-nowhere" Sevens.

Just remember--this is yet another example of yer GOP putting partisan politics above the national interest. And it's not the first example, just the most recent...

By Blogger Michael, at 11:23 PM  

It would be helpful if Vitter searched for the offending Senators except that he's a useless doormat.

didn't he abstain from voting for the creation of an independent commission to investigate the federal response into Katrina just weeks after it hit? If I remember correctly, he voted to save the President from embarrassment instead of voting to get answers for his constituents.

What a goddamn joke he is.

No offense, Louisiana. I love your state, but that man should be fired.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:44 AM