Fresh Katrina relief no impact on deficit -W.House

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N28526495.htm

Fresh Katrina relief no impact on deficit -W.House

NORFOLK, Va., Oct 28 (Reuters) - The next phase of the Bush administration's federal aid package for Gulf Coast communities hit by Hurricane Katrina will be paid for by tapping existing disaster relief funds and finding savings elsewhere in the budget, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said on Friday.

McClellan told reporters traveling with President George W. Bush that the effect of the budget cuts and reallocation would mean the package would have "zero impact on the deficit."

In the weeks following the late August destruction in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi caused by Hurricane Katrina, Congress approved $62.3 billion in emergency aid.

That money was intended to be used for immediate rescue operations and then longer-term aid such as helping to feed and house displaced victims.

[Inland]

1. Didn't they do the same thing with New York City after 9/11?

Make a big promise and then, after the headlines, tell them that they already got the funds in other programs?