WP: A New Barrage On Storm Response

[Pirate Smile]

A New Barrage On Storm Response
Contracts Draw Bipartisan Queries

By Jonathan Weisman and Griff Witte
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, October 7, 2005; Page A01

Lawmakers from both parties sharply questioned nearly every aspect of the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina yesterday, focusing their discontent on suspect contracts and eliciting a pledge that hundreds of millions of dollars in deals awarded with no competition would soon be put up for bid.

Nine House and Senate panels held hearings on hurricane relief, with a sense of frustration frequently bursting to the surface. Several members chastised administration officials, citing tales of small businesses in the Gulf states losing work to giants such as Halliburton Co. Others challenged administration stances on tax breaks and health care for the displaced.

Under questioning about the agency's reliance on contracts that lacked full and open bidding, R. David Paulison, the acting director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said, "I've been in public service a long time, and I've never been a fan of no-bid contracts."

Asked by Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) why the agency did not hold competitions before Katrina struck, Paulison replied that "all of those no-bid contracts, we are going to go back and rebid. We're in the process of re-bidding them already."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/06/AR2005100600854.html

[Pirate Smile]

1. Here is more:

"The day's events indicated the administration has yet to regain its footing since its slow response to the hurricane's initial onslaught more than a month ago.

-snip-
Members of both parties raised doubts that President Bush's proposed business tax breaks would lure employers and employees back to the Gulf Coast. Meanwhile, a continuing dispute over health care for Katrina evacuees led Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) to sharply rebuke Treasury Secretary John W. Snow. For weeks, the administration has blocked legislation that would temporarily expand Medicaid eligibility rules and raise federal health care reimbursement rates to states affected by the hurricane.

"Tell the White House to back off our bill," Grassley told Snow. "There are people hurting down there, and we want to get them help."

-snip-
Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) said union maintenance workers at New Orleans's Superdome and convention center have been replaced with out-of-state workers earning lower wages without benefits. And he charged that a Mississippi modular classroom maker was rebuffed in its bid to supply 300 classrooms when the Army Corps of Engineers turned to an Alaska firm charging more than twice the price.

[bemildred]

2. It wasn't "slow", it was intentional delay. nt

Edit: sorry, don't mean to whine at you, this valium laced
language in the news sets me off.

[Digit]

7. Does Alaska ring a bell with anyone else regarding pork?

Good God, these people have no scruples whatsoever.
A bridge to an island with few people...
An airplane painted like a salmon for $500,000.

Oh, and the wealthy ain't paying for it.
Bend over middle class, Unka Sam has a surprise for ya....

[Carla in Ca]

11. Sickening, isn't it? 941 million dollars

A bridge to nowhere
Alaska's Gravina Island (population less than 50) will soon be connected to the megalopolis of Ketchikan (pop. 8,000) by a bridge nearly as long as the Golden Gate and higher than the Brooklyn Bridge. Alaska residents can thank Rep. Don Young, who just brought home $941 million worth of bacon.


He has been asked to give it back. Of course he said no.

[henslee]

3. When did the rest of the Republican party realize they weren't really

invited to the party$$$. Chumps. Chumps. Chumps. Chumps. The damage is done. "They" have already filled their warchest with enough dough to make a nice run in eight years. New faces. Short memories. Face it, the U.S. as we know it will probably never recover. These folks have rung up a deficit and lined their pockets.

[Atman]

4. Something is wrong with this story...

Lieberman is a DEMOCRAT? Since when?

:rofl:

[Digit]

5. I never liked Lieberman, but only tolerated him as Gore's running mate

How quickly he showed his true colors after that.

[wellstone_democrat]

15. He's got his Joementum up!

that's why he wasn't here sooner!

[Miss Chybil]

6. George is toast. With a 37% approval rating, I think we can safely

say the game is up. It's about time.

[natrat]

9. with these guys the game is not up until

that fat old rat barbara bush squeals---and then we are left with a smashed home

[Miss Chybil]

16. True. It will take a lot more than 5 - 8 years to undo the damage these

people have done to our country and the world.

[carolinalady]

10. The sad thing is we will never get to seem him annihilated in an

election! :cry:

[williesgirl]

8. They should reverse every damn criminal decision */his friends made

that involved more than a penny! I'm sure they'll find they all smell rotten to the core.

[Pirate Smile]

12. kick

[confludemocrat]

13. How many of these Congresspeople voted for the bankruptcy bill?

How about fixing that too, you fucking bunch of slimy hypocrites. You know why the Democrats don't have a big lead for 2006 prospects? Because so many of them enabled the Republicans in screwing people. For what?

Take out as many incumbents in both parties as possible in 2006, and I am not alone in that thinking.

[wellstone_democrat]

14. Money, not death gets their attention every time

oh mercy! is my lobbying friend or constituent getting a share of the loot!!!!! ?

Didn't bother them at all a month ago did it?