Read and Respond. 

Posted Aug. 18, 2007 – Just weeks away from the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Democrats left Washington and returned to the Gulf Coast to see how federal dollars are being spent in the region.

And what did they find?

House Majority Whip James Clyburn, (D. S.C.) who led the delegations that included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), told folks, “We’ve met with your principals and teachers, your doctors and hospital administrators, your insurance reps and bank board members, your business leaders, community leaders and civic leaders, your mayor and your governor… and we have a new list.”

That new list includes request for more federal funding for small businesses and to reform and cut bureaucracy.

I’m not surprised.  I was there just days before they arrived, and the progress in some communities is nonexistent.  Some people who haven’t visited the region want to place all the blame on the federal government, but that’s too easy. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin now in his second term blames delays on the state’s recovery plan.   

Nagin told BET last month that the Road Home Program is a flop. “It was supposed to administer a grant program that would allow citizens to get a grant of up to $150,000,” to supplement their home insurance, he said. 

But this isn’t happening for most folks.   Some people weren’t able to get back to apply; others were put through extensive identification and home ownership mazes that often led to insufficient proof to honor their claim. 

But the biggest hurdle has been the program itself.  “It’s spent a lot of money in administrative costs. It has taken our citizens through a very embarrassing and insulting process,” Nagin said. But, “at the end of the day…, you probably won’t get enough money to repair your home.”

Now money is running out.

Clyburn, the son of a Baptist minister, quoted the Bible to bring his point home. “It says in the book of James, when your brother or sister comes to you hungry and naked, it’s not enough to tell them to go in peace,” he said. “You have to clothe them and feed them. But we’re here today to tell you that we are not done because you are not done.”

The Dems want to continue their commitment to the Gulf region’s rebuilding with funding for housing, insurance, infrastructure, healthcare and education under the banner of “New Direction for the Gulf Coast.”    They won’t get a lot of opposition from their Republican counterparts, because the storm was non-partisan. 

Embattled Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.), who represents New Orleans, was one of the 15 in the delegation.  His constituents could benefit the most from the half-dozen bills the Dems are sponsoring to help the region.

“So many committed members gives our people renewed hope that the Congress will not forget - and that the Congress will partner with us for the long term to see our recovery through,” Jefferson said.