House OKs Tax Breaks for Katrina Victims

By MARY DALRYMPLE
The Associated Press
Wednesday, September 21, 2005; 2:20 PM

WASHINGTON -- The House approved a $6.1 billion package of tax breaks Wednesday to help families recover from Hurricane Katrina and encourage Gulf Coast businesses to reopen their doors, or at least keep employees on the payroll.

The House passed the bill 422-0 as the Bush administration urged residents to get out of the way of another approaching storm, Hurricane Rita, threatening Louisiana and Texas.

The vote sent the bill to the Senate, where lawmakers hoped to quickly give their final approval. The package offers tax assistance to people and businesses dislocated by Hurricane Katrina and expanded tax breaks for some charitable donations to help them.

Rep. Jim McCrery, R-La., said tax writers aimed most of their assistance at individuals, and tax breaks for businesses mean "those businesses, we hope, will be employing and paying residents of the affected area."

more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/21/AR2005092101485.html

(note, this is not to be interpreted as any type of skinflintery on my part, I am all for giving the victims all the assistance they need. This is merely my attempt to convey that this administration is incapable of considering anything other than a tax cut as a solution to all problems.)