Need a link - Levee funding

Is there a link detailing the levee funding that was cut by Bush, and was this money appropriated under Clinton?

Pointing Fingers in the Wake of the Flood
Posted by: lex on http://PEJ.org Wednesday, August 31, 2005 - 02:39 PM


"....Early last year, President Bush's budget proposed spending less than a fifth of
the money the Army Corp of Engineers requested for precisely the purpose of
reinforcing the Lake Pontchartrain levee system. In June 2004 Emergency
Mangement Chief for Jefferson Parish remarked on the budget reductions for his
area, saying:

"It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to
handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we
pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing
everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."

Likewise, last year, the Corps' project manager Al Naomi went begging to a local
agency, the East Jefferson Levee Authority, saying $2 million was urgently
required because Washington wasn't willing to pony up. He said then:

"The system is in great shape, but the levees are sinking. Everything is
sinking, and if we don't get the money fast enough to raise them, then we can't
stay ahead of the settlement."

"The problem that we have isn't that the levee is low, but that the federal
funds have dried up so that we can't raise them."

Naomi got his money, only to find the Fed had ducked out of a 15 million dollar
project to shore up the banks of Lake Pontchartrain in the 2005 budget. And,
just months ago, despite 2004 being the most lively hurricane season in memory,
a further 26 million dollars was being withheld from SELA.

It was the largest budget reduction for preparedness every made.

For New Orleans, the irony couldn't be greater; just last year, recognizing the
growing number and magnitude of hurricanes, a study was proposed by the Corps
that would examine how the city would handle Category 4 and 5 storms. But that
too was shot down by the Bush administration. Again citing the cost of the war
in Iraq, the New Orleans office was ordered to undertake no new studies...."

MUST READ: When the levee breaks
http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/attytood/archives/002331.html

Disaster in the Making#
http://www.sfbg.com/38/52/news_fema.html

Must read from Salon: "Warning, What Warning?" Unf*cking believable!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2047833
Link: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/index.html?blog=/politics/war_room/2005/08/31/warnings/index.html

Washing Away
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4526424&mesg_id=4526424
Link (WSJ): http://online.wsj.com/public/article/0,,SB112543860068627059-6Sq1cBFORPnJqv8o85gyZbCPVdE_20060831,00.html?mod=blogs
Link (Times-Picayne 5-part Series): http://www.nola.com/hurricane/?/washingaway/

Gone With the Water (Natl Geogr, Oct 04)
http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0410/feature5/

CNN/New Orleans:"Mayor blasts failure to patch levee breeches" and that's (many links)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4523783

BUSH IS DISMANTLING FEMA
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x151912
Link: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/12521521.htm

W had a great deal to do with this tragedy.

Posted on an earlier thread:

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4200/is_20050606/ai_n14657367

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4523783
Thread title: CNN/New Orleans:"Mayor blasts failure to patch levee breeches" and that's { only the beginning:}
Nothing Without Hope GD Forum Wed Aug-31-05 09:49 AM

I can see that Bush didn't give the Core of Engineer the requested funds, but are there programs to build the levee that were initiated under Clinton that were later cut by Bush? I am discussing this issue in another forum.