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09/17/2005:

"US conservatives round on Bush over Katrina aid pledges"

US president George Bush's promise to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf coast "higher and better" has triggered a wave of anxiety among conservatives in his own party, who are shocked at the expansion of the federal role in disaster relief.

Yesterday Mr Bush led the country in a day of prayer for the victims of Hurricane Katrina in Washington's national cathedral, declaring: "The destruction of this hurricane was beyond any human power to control, but the restoration of broken communities and disrupted lives now rests in our hands." But his ambitious pledge the night before to lead "one of the largest reconstruction efforts the world has ever seen" has dismayed many of his own followers.

The promise was made in a dramatic prime-time address to the nation from a floodlit Jackson Square in the heart of New Orleans, where President Bush attempted to rebuild his credibility as a strong leader. In doing so, he apologised once more for the bungled, delayed response of the federal government.

...The promise of arguably the biggest federal government project since Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal triggered a reaction among fiscal and "small-government" conservatives. "This is a shocking expansion of the federal role in disaster relief," said Stephen Slivinski, director of budget studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian thinktank. "The fear is these programmes that are supposed to be temporary will find a permanent home in the budget."

The broad and deep tax cuts of the Bush administration's first term coupled with the Iraq war drove the federal budget from a surplus to a $412bn deficit in 2004. Higher tax revenues brought White House predictions it would drop to $333bn this year, but that hope has been dashed.

Some Republicans are voicing their unease. Senator Tom Coburn declared: "I don't believe that everything that should happen in Louisiana should be paid for by the rest of the country."

So far, Mr Slivinski said, Republican rebels in Congress could be counted "on two hands and one foot" but he predicted that, as congressional elections approach next year, concern will rise when leaders face the rank and file, who still believe in small government and balanced budgets.
guardian.co.uk

Well they knew all this very well when they gave their liberal speech. It was a weird experience sitting there listening to Bush touch on every point Democrats have been making for 50 years. I wonder what they'll cut instead of raising taxes on the rich: how about Medicaid? That way you rob poor people to 'help' other ones.

Ishmael Reed: Race, Katrina, and the Media