The politics of disaster.Byline: The Register-Guard The late Speaker of the House of Representatives Thomas "Tip" O'Neill famously declared that "All politics is local." To that grammatically ambiguous pearl of wisdom can be added James Lee James Lee is the name of:
Actually, Witt didn't butcher the language in his 1996 testimony before Congress. What President Clinton's widely respected director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is the federal agency responsible for coordinating emergency planning, preparedness, risk reduction, response, and recovery. The agency works closely with state and local governments by funding emergency programs and providing technical really said was, "As we are all aware, disasters are very political events." Hurricane Katrina  Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism. promises to be the Mother of All Political
Events. Anyone who doubts that wasn't listening Thursday evening
when President Bush framed the task of responding to the devastation of
Katrina as ``one of the largest reconstruction efforts the world has
ever seen.''
Watching a small-government conservative president doing a convincing imitation of Franklin D. Roosevelt on national television confirms that Katrina has altered the traditional dynamics in Washington. Bush seems to understand that the entrepreneurial spirit of America's can-do business community is insufficient to handle a disaster of this magnitude. Only the federal government has the resources necessary to shelter, feed and care for hundreds of thousands of homeless people, to see that their children can attend school, to engineer the complex rebuilding of a unique American city, and to tackle the challenging issues of race and poverty laid bare by the hurricane. The political storm spawned by Katrina will intensify when Bush and the Congress confront the staggering costs of reconstruction. Difficult decisions on tax cuts, military programs, health care spending, homeland security Noun 1. Homeland Security - the federal department that administers all matters relating to homeland security Department of Homeland Security executive department - a federal department in the executive branch of the government of the United States and other cherished programs will be unavoidable when the disaster relief bills begin to arrive. The sense of national unity and shared purpose present in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks is nowhere to be found in the rubble left by Katrina. Sharp divisions over everything from the war in Iraq to Supreme Court nominations, coupled with Democratic efforts to tar Republicans with every shred of blame for the government's missteps in responding to the hurricane, have poisoned the atmosphere. Though the response to Katrina will be an order of magnitude A change in quantity or volume as measured by the decimal point. For example, from tens to hundreds is one order of magnitude. Tens to thousands is two orders of magnitude; tens to millions is three orders of magnitude, etc. greater than most disasters, studies of spending patterns at FEMA FEMA, n.pr See Federal Emergency Management Agency. reveal that political concerns always accompany disaster response, regardless of the scale of destruction. Vague language in the law gives presidents wide latitude in determining when an event is a disaster that qualifies for federal assistance. In fact, there is no quantitative formula; declaring a disaster is mostly subjective. Given such discretion, presidents tend to declare more disasters during election years. President Clinton holds the record for feeling states' pain, declaring 73 major disasters in 35 states and the District of Columbia District of Columbia, federal district (2000 pop. 572,059, a 5.7% decrease in population since the 1990 census), 69 sq mi (179 sq km), on the east bank of the Potomac River, coextensive with the city of Washington, D.C. (the capital of the United States). in 1996 when he was up for re-election. An analysis of FEMA data by The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times showed President Bush tied for second in number of disasters declared. Bush found more disasters in battleground states during his 2004 re-election race. As will certainly be the case with Katrina aid, past disaster relief efforts have included plenty of pork in congressional districts Noun 1. congressional district - a territorial division of a state; entitled to elect one member to the United States House of Representatives district, territorial dominion, territory, dominion - a region marked off for administrative or other purposes whose members faced re-election. A study cited by the Times found that the amount of disaster relief increased in relation to the number of representatives a state has on FEMA oversight committees in Congress. One obvious reform would involve devising a clearer formula for declaring a disaster, specifying thresholds for economic damage or loss of life. But that small increase in accountability pales in comparison to the task of tracking the billions of federal dollars that are about to flood into the Gulf Coast. Given the well-documented problems with uncompetitive bids and lack of budget accountability in the reconstruction of Iraq Reconstruction of Iraq describes attempts by the international community, and particularly the United States, to improve and repair the infrastructure of Iraq in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion. , Americans can safely assume politics and sweetheart deals Sweetheart Deal A merger or company sale where one company involved in the deal gives the other very attractive terms and conditions. Notes: In other words, a sweetheart deal is a transaction that a firm simply cannot pass-up. This is usually considered to be unethical. will be business as usual in the Katrina relief efforts. As a result, despite President Bush's important acknowledgement of the need to address poverty in the region, millions of dollars are likely to be wasted on questionable projects. |
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