Corps of Engineers money in N.O. - allocation messup question

Tonight I was talking to a fellow evacuee yet again about the levee mess-up. It's my understanding, based on what I've read here and on TruthOut, that the CoE allocations were cut continuosuly since 2001, resulting in the levees (specifically the 17th Street Canal one that broke) being built only to category 3 strength, though everyone knew they needed to withstand category 4 or 5. Essentially the funds were cut in half. (I'm not clear if that was cut every year from 2001 through 2005 or a total difference.)

She told me that a federal official told her that the N.O. branch of the C.o.E. had been given the funds, but that the city had spent it on building up the French Quarter and Algiers. I tried pointing out that if the available money is cut in half, then all projects get half the funding, and that the other projects (including those she mentioned) also needed funding. She said, "there's two sides to every story."

I'd heard that argument before, but I think this person might be open to the facts. So what I need is an "objective source" - not a federal official with an agenda or an "anti-bush" source (who of course (sarcasm) can't be objective) like DU or TO, but something like Time or Newsweek - that presents the amount allocated, on what it was spent, and who had the authority for spending it. In short, who is to blame for the underfunding of the levee?

I'm sure there's an archived source on the site.

Thanks.