WP: Parties Scramble for Post-Katrina Leverage

[DeepModem Mom]

Parties Scramble for Post-Katrina Leverage
Hill GOP Sets Investigative Commission; Democrats Criticize Panel's Makeup
By Charles Babington and Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, September 8, 2005; Page A06


Congressional Republicans had hoped to devote this fall to tax cuts, private investment accounts for Social Security and tilting the judiciary further to the right. Instead, they are appropriating massive sums for the Hurricane Katrina recovery effort and retreating, at least for now, from plans to eliminate the estate tax.

As a day of dueling speeches and news conferences made clear yesterday, the two parties will battle intensely to influence the inevitable investigations into the serious shortcomings in the government's response to the catastrophe in New Orleans and its environs. While Republicans have more members in the House and Senate, Democrats say they have more credibility and enthusiasm for the government services that Katrina's wreckage will require: urban renewal, aid to the poor and robust social programs.

With the midterm congressional elections 14 months away, both parties see high stakes in where blame will eventually fall for the government's lagging response to Katrina. Yesterday, congressional Republicans tried to get a head start, announcing the formation of an investigative commission that they can control.

They rejected Democratic appeals to model the panel after the Sept. 11 commission, which was made up of non-lawmakers and was equally balanced between Republicans and Democrats. That commission won wide praise for assessing how the 2001 terrorist attacks occurred, and for recommending changes in the government's anti-terrorism structure.

House and Senate GOP leaders announced the "Hurricane Katrina Joint Review Committee," which will include only members of Congress, with Republicans outnumbering Democrats by a yet-to-be-determined ratio. The commission, which will have subpoena powers, will investigate the actions of local, state and federal governments before and after the storm that devastated New Orleans and other portions of the Gulf Coast....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/07/AR2005090702125.html

[FormerRepublican]

1. The Republicans have absolutely no shame...

...and they think we're stupid.

Like anyone would give any credibility whatsoever to their investigation when it's not impartial.