Why Does THIS Not Surprise ANYONE..?

$51B in aid,
but it's bottled up

Victims have not

seen cash

By MICHAEL McAULIFF
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Link Here

WASHINGTON - Congress approved $51.8 billion in Katrina aid yesterday, but it won't get there soon enough for the people who tried - and failed - to get promised emergency payments.

President Bush signed the bill last night. Earlier, he went on TV to tell victims how to get help, saying more than 400,000 people already have signed up for benefits. He told tens of thousands more to apply but said they must be patient as they try to contact the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"Now we have 3,000 people who are working around the clock to take the calls," Bush said. "We're in the process of training more, and that number will be increasing dramatically." But access to the harshly criticized agency's Web site was spotty, and getting through by phone was all but impossible.

There was also confusion over the $2,000 debit cards promised to victims who lined up for hours to get them yesterday, only to learn they were not available.

A FEMA spokesman said news of the cards had been overblown, and except for a "pilot program" at the Houston Astrodome starting today, payments would be made by check or wire transfer. Frustrated evacuees were forced to go away with cards the Red Cross was able to provide - with far less money.

The debit card program "got a whole lot more attention than it probably deserved," said Butch Kinerny, a FEMA spokesman. "We're not trying to set up ATMs across the country."

A day earlier, White House spokesman Scott McClellan had told the nation the cards were being rolled out "to provide some immediate cash assistance to those who are in shelters, those that were evacuated."

Bush, in his address, also pledged aid for states taking in victims and said evacuees would be granted a special status so they can get benefits without showing documents likely to have been lost.

"The government is going to be with you for the long haul," Bush said. "In all the steps we take, our goal is not to simply provide benefits, but to make them easy and simple as possible to collect."

He also set a day of national prayer for Sept. 16 and sent Vice President Cheney to Mississippi and Louisiana to put a reassuring face on the administration's relief efforts.

Democrats praised the steps taken but kept up a rising chorus of criticism. "We're prepared to move forward with a better plan that bypasses FEMA and gets the survivors the resources they need," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

The missteps were taking a toll on the President's popularity, with one poll released yesterday finding his job-approval rating at 41% and another at just 40%.


--Hmmmm...guess they REALLY are scared it will make crack bigger than Wal Mart. Yeah yeah. Red tape...more like looting on a whole new scale. A HIGHER scale even.--