White House corporate friends cash in on Katrina.

Halliburton Co., Bechtel Corp., and Shaw Group, Inc., all firms with deep connections to the Bush administration, have been among the first in line to receive big reconstruction contracts in the wake of havoc wrought by Hurricane Katrina. Halliburton, which has received more than $20 billion in contracts from the Pentagon for projects in Iraq, has been under investigation for massive "irregularities" in which mountains of funds have disappeared. Vice President Dick Cheney was CEO of Halliburton when he joined the Bush ticket, and he still holds a large portfolio of the company's stock. Last year he received nearly $200,000 in deferred payment from Halliburton. Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root has received $29.8 million in Pentagon contracts to begin rebuilding Navy bases in Louisiana and Mississippi. Joe Allbaugh, the former head of FEMA (and former Bush campaign manager) is a top lobbyist for Halliburton.

Bechtel Corp. has been awarded contracts by FEMA to provide housing for people displaced by the hurricane. Bush named Bechtel's CEO to his Export Council and put the former CEO of Bechtel Energy in charge of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.