Bush: Spending cuts, no tax hikes, for Katrina

Greater role for armed forces
In his speech Thursday, Bush ordered all Cabinet secretaries to join in a comprehensive review of the government’s faulty response. In addition, he ordered the Department of Homeland Security to undertake an immediate review of emergency plans in every major city in America.

He also said a disaster on the scale of Katrina requires greater federal authority and a broader role for the armed forces.

Bush proposed establishment of worker recovery accounts providing up to $5,000 for job training, education and child care during victims’ search for employment.

In his speech, which lasted a bit over 20 minutes, he also said he would ask Congress to approve an Urban Homesteading Act in which surplus federal property would be turned over to low-income citizens by means of a lottery to build homes, with mortgages or assistance from charitable organizations.

Other proposals, according to congressional officials briefed by the White House, include:

• A 100 percent reimbursement to states to cover their costs of health care for treating many evacuees through the end of next year.
• $1.9 billion to reimburse states for educating displaced students, including some money that could go to religious schools.
• Six-month forgiveness on student loan interest for affected areas, at an estimated cost of $100 million.

Bush described the hurricane’s aftermath as “days of sorrow and outrage,” and he said the nation had “witnessed the kind of desperation no citizen of this great and generous nation should ever have to know.” He deplored scenes of victims calling out for food and water, criminals who had no mercy, and bodies of the dead lying uncovered in the street.

Promise of better days
He said the suffering of victims was tempered by acts of courage and kindness by the Coast Guard and other rescue workers. To the hundreds of thousands of people forced from their homes, Bush said, “You need to know that our whole nation cares about you — and in the journey ahead you are not alone.”

Promising better days ahead, Bush said, “The streets of Biloxi and Gulfport will again be filled with lovely homes and the sound of children playing. The churches of Alabama will have their broken steeples mended and their congregations whole.

“And here in New Orleans, the street cars will once again rumble down St. Charles, and the passionate soul of a great city will return.”

Bush faced the nation at a vulnerable point in his presidency. Most Americans disapprove of his handling of Katrina, and his job-approval rating has been dragged down to the lowest point of his presidency also because of dissatisfaction with the Iraq war and rising gas prices. He has struggled to demonstrate the same take-charge leadership he displayed after the Sept. 11 terror attacks four years ago.

Death toll over 800
The death toll from Hurricane Katrina climbed to 816 Friday after Louisiana officials raised the number of confirmed fatalities in that state to 579.

There were 218 dead in Mississippi and 19 deaths confirmed in Florida, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee from the Aug. 29 storm.

Faulting the government’s response, Bush said that Katrina “was not a normal hurricane — and the normal disaster relief system was not equal to it.” State officials have blamed the federal government for failing to respond more quickly, and federal officials have pointed fingers at state and local officials.

MORE FROM KATRINA: THE LONG ROAD BACK

Katrina: The Long Road Back Section Front

Apologetic Nagin visits N.Y. Bush sees rebirth from ‘sadness’ of Katrina Special report: Rebuilding lives Katrina exodus felt far and wide A tangled tale of Katrina survival ‘New Orleans is still crying’ Brian Williams: We were witnesses Developers' past includes fraud Special report: Rising from Ruin Dateline video blogs: Covering Katrina Katrina: The Long Road Back Section Front   Add Katrina: The Long Road Back headlines to your news reader: