Bush Administration cut funding for NOLA flood control in 2003

The president is directly responsible for the loss of New Orleans, La. He scrapped the funding for levy repair/enhancement so that the money could go for his worthless war of terror. The president does not care enough to visit New Orleans and has thus far failed to send enough military personnel to evacuate the starving/dying people who remain trapped in the city.

A large chunk of the United States is now in ruins and the effort to rebuild New Orleans will take years. It will take several months just to drain the water from the city. Millions of people are displaced; I estimate, that well over 150 Billion dollars worth of damage was done although some are claiming only 40 billion.

The United States will have to go into enormous amounts of debt to remedy this situation; this will surely send the US dollar sliding to new lows and gas prices are probably going to reach $5/gallon within the next six months.

From the 6/6/05 New Orleans CityBusiness:

In fiscal year 2006, the New Orleans district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is bracing for a record $71.2 million reduction in federal funding…The cuts mean major hurricane and flood protection projects will not be awarded to local engineering firms. Also, a study to determine ways to protect the region from a Category 5 hurricane has been shelved for now.

[snip]

Landrieu said the Bush administration is not making Corps of Engineers funding a priority. “I think it’s extremely shortsighted,” Landrieu said. “When the Corps of Engineers’ budget is cut, Louisiana bleeds. These projects are literally life-and-death projects to the people of south Louisiana.”