Bush visits ward flattened by storm

NEW ORLEANS – President Bush made his first visit to this city’s storm-shattered Lower Ninth Ward on Wednesday and later inspected ongoing efforts to fix a nearby levee, where he accused Congress of underfunding the repairs.

While promising that the ongoing work will result in levees “equal or better than what they were” before Hurricane Katrina, Bush also criticized Congress for redirecting $1.5 billion from his request to repair this region’s flood protection system to other projects.

“Congress heard our message about improving the levees but they shortchanged the process by about $1.5 billion dollars,” Bush said as he called for the money to be restored. He also urged lawmakers to approve his latest storm-related budget request, which included $4.2 billion for grants to help residents rebuild their homes or relocate.

“I fully understand – and I hope our country understands – the pain and agony that the people of New Orleans and Louisiana and the parishes surrounding New Orleans went through. But I think people would be impressed by the desire for the people in this part of the country to pick up and move on and rebuild.”

The president’s trip to the Gulf Coast, his 10th since Hurricane Katrina devastated the region in August, came as his administration’s response to the disaster continued to come under fire by Democrats in Congress. In recent weeks, the federal government’s sluggish response to the disaster has been roundly criticized in reports produced both by House Republicans and the White House itself.

Also, independent experts have criticized the levee repair work as using substandard materials and designs – which the administration disputes.

“How can the nation have any confidence that the administration is capable of getting the recovery right?” said Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. “Congress has an obligation to monitor the federal role with special vigilance, to be sure the rebuilding effort is as effective as possible as quickly as possible.”

In Washington, a Senate investigative panel held its final hearing into the government’s flawed response before releasing its report later this month. Chairman Susan Collins, R-Maine, said the Federal Emergency Management Agency should not be pulled out of the Department of Homeland Security and restored to independent, Cabinet level status, but pushed for other changes.

“If you still have poor leadership and inadequate resources, you’re going to have the same results,” Collins said.

David Walker, head of Congress’ Government Accountability Office, and Homeland Security Department Inspector General Richard Skinner agreed.

Removing FEMA from the department “in my opinion would be a major mistake. We would only be transferring the problems,” Skinner said.

Before visiting the Industrial Canal levee, where the Army Corps of Engineers is building 15-foot high concrete flood walls to replace barriers damaged by Katrina, Bush toured the Lower Ninth Ward, a largely black, working-class community virtually obliterated by the storm.

Throughout the neighborhood are flattened homes, hundreds of ruined and rusting cars, and huge piles of debris. Bush, criticized by some civil rights leaders and others for not getting a more personal view of the city’s devastation, walked through an abandoned block in the neighborhood accompanied by New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin and Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco.