Gov't Hurricane Tab May Be Below $150B

[deadparrot]

WASHINGTON - The federal government's tab for hurricane relief and rebuilding efforts is likely to cost less than $150 billion, Congress' top budget analyst said Thursday, an amount significantly less than original guesstimates tossed about in the immediate aftermath of the disaster.

Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin told the House Budget Committee that his agency now estimates damage to homes, government buildings, oil refineries and businesses will total between $70 billion and $130 billion. Of that, at least $40 billion is covered by private insurance, he said.

Those figures don't include the immediate relief and rescue efforts, which have been paid for out of the $62 billion Congress has already approved. About $20 billion of those funds have been earmarked so far,
Federal Emergency Management Agency chief R. David Paulison told lawmakers.

But Holtz-Eakin said the total costs to taxpayers will come nowhere close to estimates of $300 billion to $400 billion made by some a month ago.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051006/ap_on_go_co/katrina_congress

[Endangered Specie]

1. translation: they are cutting the poor folks out.

[Atman]

2. Because America has turned against BushCo

so they just won't spend it. They'll pretend they're fuck-up wont cost as much.

Oh, and what about that fake body-count?

[pitohui]

3. oh so they're going to cheap out on us now

when are these private insurers actually going to cut some checks, speaking of private insurers

you can't even get an adjuster in this town

[mom cat]

4. Fixing the levees would have been a whole lot cheaper.