Congress Sending $10.5B in Relief Aid

[ray of light]

Congress Sending $10.5B in Relief Aid

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/katrina_washington;_ylt=Aotg.tFEMu76dgmYzATYkJSs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--

By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent
10 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - Congress rushed to provide a $10.5 billion down payment in relief aid for Gulf Coast victims of Hurricane Katrina on Thursday as President Bush ordered new action to minimize disruptions in the nation's energy supplies.

"Don't buy gas if you don't need it," he urged consumers already hit by sharply rising prices.

[whistle]

1. Repblicans have promised financial aid in the past and much of

...it never gets spent or is diverted to other non-related uses. let's see what happens this time.

[Tace]

2. No Kidding -- In A Year We'll Find Out $1 Billion Was Spent...

and the rest disappeared.

[dflprincess]

4. As I said in another post,

let's hope they don't give Halliburton the contract for getting the aid to New Orleans.

[hwmnbn]

3. They can't drink money, they need water NOW!!!!

[merwin]

5. I hate to point this out, but I really have to...

They can come up with 10 billion dollars to help new orleans, but not even a fraction of that amount to help the tsunami victims.

[Endangered Specie]

9. I think it is worth pointing out.

it may not be the best time, but sometimes the painful truth has got to come when it hurts the most.

[scottxyz]

6. A few hundred thousand would buy water and sandwiches to airdrop

But that's not glamorous enough.

People are DYING right now live on national TV because FEMA refuses to airdrop water and sandwiches.

Water and food (and medical supplies) could be airdropped for a few hundred thousand bucks to tide people over until they can be taken to shelters.

Ten billion dollars ain't gonna be much use to revive a bunch of corpses. The human body can't go many days without water.

But Bush has closed the airspace over NOLA and FEMA refuses to airdrop food and water. So people are dying.

This is murder, pure and simple. Thanks for the 10 billion dollars congress, but what we really need is water and sandwiches NOW. ANd it shouldn't take a fucking Act of Congress to do that - FEMA should have been able to do it with our taxpayers' money Tuesday morning after the wind died down.

DC is killing us.

[salin]

7. am I wrong or was the initial NY pledge after 911 about 19 billion?

Of course later it was alleged that the feds reneged and never gave the amount pledged (cut backs - to give rich folks and corps tax cuts, dontcha know?)

So - initial pledge for a bigger disaster is only half of that to NYC post 911 - AND with the history of reneging - how much will this be diminished by (to give the current proposed round of bushco tax cuts - and the taxcuts in the current energy bill/gift give away to energy companies some of which are already ruthlessly gouging consumers)?

[Up2Late]

8. What? Did someone sneak another 1/2 Billion it to this Bill too?

I think * only asked for 10 Billion.

[burrowowl]

10. How much is

Haliburton going to get?

[The_Casual_Observer]

11. 80 + billion in Iraq every year, seems a little cheap to me.

[nonconformist]

12. Sending right to Blackwater, they mean.

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