Kerry on Recovery for Katrina & Rita: Promises Made, Promises Not Kept

[kerrygoddess]

John Kerry on Recovery Efforts for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: Promises Made, Promises Not Kept
May 12th, 2006 @ 11:48 am

As I reported here earlier, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported today that John Kerry was due to speak on the Senate floor, and “follow up on his promise last week, to “raise the roof” about the complaints he heard during his recent visit to New Orleans.” Today, some eight months after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, John Kerry called on Washington to act on the promises made, and not kept.

The following is a statement from John Kerry, Ranking Member on the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, as prepared for delivery today on the Senate floor:

Mr. President, last Friday, May 5th, I took my second trip to Louisiana since Hurricane Katrina, I wanted to see the recovery effort up close now that we’re eight and a half months into the process. Senator Landrieu has worked tirelessly to help rebuild the city she grew up in, and she took me around New Orleans East before we sat down to hear first hand accounts of the challenges small business owners are facing eight months after the storm.

We have all heard the statistics: Before Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Louisiana had 86,000 small businesses employing more than 850,000 people and contributing $22 billion to the local economy. Of those, 71,000 were in the disaster zones and nearly 20,000 were catastrophically destroyed. More than 365,000 residents were left homeless.

But those statistics don’t tell the story of what’s happening to New Orleans today.


MORE & LINKS - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=2962

Kerry: Lag in Aid Extends Crisis in New Orleans
May 12th, 2006 @ 4:30 am

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that John Kerry “fears that problems are festering” in New Orleans. Kerry will be following up on his promise last week, to “raise the roof” about the complaints he heard during his recent visit to New Orleans, about the slow federal response to Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts.

Sen. John Kerry will tell colleagues today that he is “stunned by how little is happening compared to how much more must be done.”

MORE & LINKS - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=2956

[blm]

1. BushInc is doing it on PURPOSE to drive out the small businesspeople,

so only the big business guys can afford to move on in and build ....and...usurp territory that once was shared by many.

[MH1]

2. I saw part of his Senate speech on cspan - excellent, as usual

There was a thread on it here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1168028

blm suggested we make a list of all the bills he was talking about that were to help with post-Katrina, that the rethugs have stalled. That would be an interesting thread. AND we could start nagging people to pound on their reps to get these things passed.

[ProSense]

3. Thanks for posting. The numbers Kerry quotes show how

completely megligent Bush's has been and still is.

More than $10 billion in contracts have been awarded for debris removal, emergency response, and reconstruction efforts. But tens of thousands of abandoned cars litter the streets of New Orleans. Garbage, hurricane debris, and trash were in front of virtually every home or business that I saw.

Orleans Parish, the center of Louisiana’s economy, had 12,695 small businesses, employing 245,000 people, in operation before August 29, 2005. Today, it is estimated that only a little more than 2,000 have re-opened.

One person I spoke with confirmed what I could see with my eyes. He said that “basic services in 70 % of the city do not exist.

What type of leadership results in spending $900 million to buy 25,000 manufactured homes and 1,300 modular homes, most of which cannot be used because FEMA rules say they are too big or unsafe in flood zones? What type of leadership results in spending $249 million to secure 8,136 cruise-ship cabins for six months, at a cost that Inspector General Richard L. Skinner estimated at $5,100 a month per passenger –six times the cost of renting two-bedroom apartments.

And these are just a few snips.