http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tporleans/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tporleans/archives/2005_09.html#077574This article mentions some of the failure in response the federal government, FEMA and even local LA leaders had to Katrina.
With gas prices soaring above $3 a gallon and threatening the U.S. economy, Bush met with Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and his economic advisers about Katrina's economic impact.
Bush said they all agreed the storm's damage to the gas supply was a "temporary disruption" and urged Americans to use prudence in filling up over the next few weeks.
"Don't buy gas if you don't need it," he said in Oval Office remarks with his father and Clinton at his side.
Gasoline sellers have been fast to raise prices, to more than $3 a gallon and in some places far higher, because of a sudden drop in supplies, prompting accusations they are artificially setting high prices to profit from the disaster.
Asked in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America" if U.S. oil companies should forfeit profits during the crisis, Bush said instead American corporations should contribute cash to hurricane relief funds.
Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, seized on that comment. He said that while Bush was "asking ordinary Americans to do more, he ought to show some real leadership, and call on his friends in Big Oil to join in the sacrifice and stop gouging American families at the gas pump."
In the ABC interview, Bush drew no line between those looting stores for survival supplies like food and water and those stealing television sets that are of no use with electricity out in New Orleans.
"I think there ought to be zero tolerance of people breaking the law during an emergency such as this, whether it be looting, or price-gouging at the gasoline pump or taking advantage of charitable giving, or insurance fraud," Bush said.
Looting has run rampant in New Orleans as stranded victims of Hurricane Katrina await emergency assistance.
...Bush temporarily waived the Jones Act, which will allow foreign tankers to deliver oil to U.S. ports to ease disruptions in oil supplies. He said the government was working with energy companies to repair and reactivate major refineries and pipelines.
Bush acknowledged these steps would not solve the problem of getting enough gasoline to market.
Bush also said he expected Saudi Arabia to do "everything they can" to provide more oil, although he noted the Saudis had "limited capacity" to do so.
...
In the interview, Bush defended his own decision to wait until Wednesday to return to Washington and cut short by a couple of days a monthlong working vacation at his Texas ranch. Now is not a time to play politics, he said to Democratic critics.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tporleans/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tporleans/archives/2005_09.htmlLet’s be clear: Officials in New Orleans and elsewhere in Louisiana are hardly blameless in this tragedy. Official preparations for the storm centered on an evacuation plan designed to hasten the flow of private vehicles out of the city. This system worked well, and many more lives would have been lost without it. But as is now obvious, the plan did not take sufficient account of those who would not or could not evacuate on their own.
No federal presence was evident as the storm in the Gulf gathered strength and chugged toward us. If Blanco and Mayor Ray Nagin thought in the days before landfall that the federal government wasn’t pulling its weight, they should have said so loudly and frankly.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tporleans/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tporleans/archives/2005_09.html#077560Bush resisted demands for an inquiry into what went wrong in federal relief in first few days after Katrina hit. He said it was more important to focus on human rescue for now.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tporleans/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tporleans/archives/2005_09.html#077558Nagin also remained defiant, rebuffing recent criticism from federal authorities and media representatives who have tried to shift the blame for the slow response for support to the local and state levels.
"I welcome that," he said. "I welcome the criticism. My question to them is, 'Where were you? Where the hell were you?' "
Nagin said he witnessed the storm's devastation firsthand and toured the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and Superdome, where people were living in what he called "subhuman" conditions.
"I saw babies dying and old people so bad off they screamed, 'Just let me lay down and die.'
"(The critics) can talk that. Bring it on. I'm ready for it."
"I think one of the things people want us to do is play the blame game," he said.
He said it is important to understand what went wrong to improve federal, state and local coordination in the event of a terrorist attack
Bush said Vice President Dick Cheney would visit the disaster area Thursday to assess relief efforts and cut any red tape keeping rescuers from survivors.[one such red tape would be having the national guard keep RedCross away. Or what about the red tape that said zero tolerance. Who were the looters you were referring to?]
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tporleans/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tporleans/archives/2005_09.html#077553WASHINGTON - President Bush and congressional leaders promised Tuesday to investigate why the initial federal response to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina was, by wide agreement, slow and inadequate.
Bush, who is readying a $40 billion aid package to supplement the $10.5 billion approved by Congress last week, also met with Education Secretary Margaret Spellings to discuss ways to help school districts around the country that are taking in thousands of students displaced from their own schools by the hurricane.
"We must try to restore some sense of structure and normalcy to their lives as quickly as possible," Spellings said. "And that includes helping schools accommodate these new students, who will need books, clothes and other supplies."
Bush said now is not the time "for the blame game," but at some future date, he would personally oversee an investigation into how Katrina rescue efforts were handled by federal, state and local officials.
Bush said he is working with his Cabinet to develop a comprehensive plan for both immediate and long-term housing for the estimated 1 million people displaced by Katrina and to ensure that people can collect their Social Security checks and other benefits no matter where they are living.
He is sending Vice President Dick Cheney to the Gulf Coast region Thursday to evaluate recovery efforts.
