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Tough Sell

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The White House scrambled Thursday to defend itself against criticism that it has consistently proposed cutting the budget for Army Corps of Engineers water and flood control projects — including several that could have mitigated the disaster in New Orleans. Just in February, President George W. Bush proposed cutting the Corps’ budget by 7 percent. The year before, Bush proposed a 13 percent cut … “Flood control has been a priority of this administration from Day One,” [said] White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

1 Response

  1. mike says:
    2005-09-04 at 10:11:12

    http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-levee4sep04,0,6360838,full.story

    Although congressional leaders were more generous with funding than the White House, the House and Senate never got anywhere near to approving the amounts that experts had said was needed.

    What happened this year was typical: Local levee and flood prevention officials, along with Sen. Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.), asked for $78 million in project funds. President Bush offered them less than half that — $30 million. Congress ended up authorizing $36.5 million.

    Since Bush took office in 2001, local experts and Landrieu have asked for just short of $500 million. Altogether, Bush in his yearly budgets asked for $166 million, and Congress approved about $250 million.

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