Text 14862, 78 rader
Skriven 2005-09-03 14:12:28 av John Hull (1:123/789.0)
Ärende: Who dropped the ball?
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All Bush's fault, right?  Not even close. Clinton is at least as much at fault
if anybody is.

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IN KATRINA'S WAKE
Clinton, Bush slashed spending on levees
For 10 years, preventive maintenance was cut

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Posted: September 3, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern



(c) 2005 WorldNetDaily.com

WASHINGTON - While the Bush administration is sure to get most of the heat for
cuts in proposed expenditures to maintain and upgrade New Orleans flood control
system, the Clinton administration repeatedly cut congressional allocations for
the projects and the recommendations on spending by the Army Corps of
Engineers.

Most of the attention to date has focused on the fact that last year the Army
Corps of Engineers sought $105 million for hurricane and flood programs in New
Orleans, while the White House slashed the request to about $40 million.
Congress finally approved $42.2 million, less than half of the agency's
request.


Some have been quick to point out the same Congress and Bush administration
agreed to a $286.4 billion pork-laden highway bill that included more than
6,000 pet projects for lawmakers, as well as allocations for dust control on
Arkansas roads, a warehouse on the Erie Canal and a $231 million bridge to a
small, uninhabited Alaskan island.

However, 10 years ago, the Clinton administration cut 98 flood control
projects, including one in New Orleans, saying such efforts should be local
projects, not national.

Army Corps of Engineers officials freely conceded in 1995 the cuts might be
penny-wise and pound-foolish. But they said they were forced to eliminate some
services the corps has historically provided to taxpayers to meet the
administration's budget-cutting goals.

A $120 million hurricane project, approved and financed annually from 1965 was
killed by the Clinton administration after being approved by the Army Corps of
Engineers. It was designed to protect more than 140,000 West Bank residents
east of the Harvey Canal.

On June 9, John Zirschky, the acting assistant secretary of the Army and the
official who refused to forward the report to Congress, sent a memo to the
corps, saying the recommendation for the project "is not consistent with the
policies and budget priorities reflected in the President's Fiscal Year 1996
budget. Accordingly, I will not forward the report to the Office of Management
and Budget for clearance."

The following year, Congress approved more for flood-control projects than was
recommended by the Clinton administration. Likewise, in 1999, Congress and the
Clinton administration agreed to spend only $47 million on New Orleans area
hurricane flood control projects - half of what local officials had requested.

Again, in 2000, Congress approved a $23.6 billion measure for water and energy
programs, with sizable increases for several New Orleans area flood-control
projects.

Clinton, however, promised to veto the annual appropriation for the Energy
Department and Army Corps of Engineers, not because it was $890 million larger
than he proposed, but because it did not include a plan to alter the levels of
the Missouri River to protect endangered fish and birds.

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(c) 2005 WorldNetDaily.com, Inc.

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