[Mb-hair] Halliburton takes lead in Katrina reconstruction - Molly Ivins

[George R. Milman]

The graft goes on

Halliburton takes lead in Katrina reconstruction

By Molly Ivins

Creators Syndicate

09.13.05 

 AUSTIN, Texas -- Here's a good idea: Consumer groups and progressive
congressfolks have joined in an effort to stop hundreds of thousands of
victims of Hurricane Katrina from being further harmed by the new Bankruptcy
Act, scheduled to take effect Oct. 17. This law was notoriously written of,
by and for the consumer credit industry, and is particularly onerous for the
poor. 

The bill was passed with massive support from the Republican leadership in
Congress and from a disgusting number of sellout Democrats. While it was
being considered in committee earlier this year, Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson
Lee offered an amendment to protect victims of natural disasters. It was
defeated, without debate, on a party-line vote. 

 Now, Congress has a chance to rethink some of the most punitive parts of
the bill. Katrina victims who were planning to file before the new law goes
into effect are s.o.l. -- where are they gonna find a lawyer, let alone an
open courthouse? 

 Under the new law, anyone whose income is over the state median must file
under Chapter 13, a more restrictive category that requires some repayment
of debt. The new law grants no exemption for natural disaster, even though
it's going to be a little tough for some citizen sitting in the Astrodome
who no longer has a home to come up with tax statements, pay stubs, and six
months of income and expense data. Let's see if Congress can manage to open
its marble heart on this issue. 

 Meanwhile, it's an ill wind that blows no one good, so we should not be
surprised to learn the first winner out of the gate on Katrina is none other
than the Halliburton Co., whose deserving subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root
has already been granted a $29.8 million contract for cleanup work in the
wake of Katrina. 

 Of course, no one would suggest Halliburton and its subsidiaries get
government contracts (more than $9 billion for reconstruction work in Iraq,
with Pentagon audits thus far showing $1.03 billion in "questioned" costs
and $422 million in "unsupported costs") just because Vice President Cheney
is still on the payroll. Heavens no. The veep continues to receive deferred
pay from the company he formerly headed -- $194,852 last year. 

 But Cheney has nothing to do with the Halliburton contracts -- that,
friends, goes through none other than the noted lobbyist and former head of
-- of all things -- the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Since Joe
Allbaugh, who was Bush's campaign manger in 2000, left FEMA in December
2002, he has been busy making sure reconstruction contracts in Iraq go to
companies that give generously to the Republican Party. 

 Now, aren't you ashamed of yourself for thinking there's something wrong
with that? Besides, Allbaugh is now with a big-time Washington lobbying
firm, where he also represents Shaw Group Inc., and -- viola -- Shaw Group,
too, already has a $100 million emergency contract from FEMA for housing
management and construction, and a $100 million order from the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers for Katrina repair. 

 Congress has appropriated over $60 billion in emergency funding for
recovery costs, and estimates are the final costs will top $100 billion. 

 Danielle Brian, director of the Project on Government Oversight, told
Reuters, "The government has got to stop stacking senior positions with
people who are repeatedly cashing in on the public trust in order to further
private commercial interests." 

 Now, Ms. Brian, get a grip. Not all the money goes to the big, politically
connected firms. 

Michael ("You're doing a heckuva job") Brown liked to spread federal money
around. In fact, Rep. Robert Wexler of Florida was so annoyed by Brownie's
distribution of largesse in Miami after Hurricane Frances that he urged the
president to fire Ol' Brownie last January. What upset Wexler about the $30
million in FEMA checks to cover new wardrobes, cars, lawnmowers, vacuum
cleaners, furniture and appliances was that the hurricane did not affect
Miami. It landed 100 miles away. 

 Some of you may have heard me observe a time or two -- going back to when
George W. was still governor of Texas -- that the trouble with the guy is
that while he is good at politics, he stinks at governance. It bores him,
he's not interested, he thinks government is bad to begin with and
everything would be done better if it were contracted out to corporations. 

 We can now safely assert that W. has stacked much of the federal government
with people like himself. And what you get when you put people in charge of
government who don't believe in government and who are not interested in
running it well is... what happened after Hurricane Katrina. 

 Many a time in the past six years I have bit my tongue so I wouldn't annoy
people with the always obnoxious observation, "I told you so." But, dammit
it all to hell, I did tell you, and I've been telling you since 1994, and I
am so sick of this man and everything he represents -- all the sleazy, smug,
self-righteous graft and corruption and "Christian" moralizing and cynicism
and tax cuts for all his smug, rich buddies. 

 Next time I tell you someone from Texas should not be president of the
United States, please pay attention. 

 

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