Opan letter to Bush from "Levees Not War"

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January 31, 2006 Dear Mr. President: We are writing to express our profound dismay at your decision not to support Rep. Richard H. Baker’s “buyout bill” for homeowner relief [see “More Info,” col. 2]—and astonishment at your suggestion that Louisiana lacks a plan. We know you don’t like the idea of establishing “another federal bureaucracy,” but in this extreme case—the largest natural disaster ever to strike the U.S., leaving 200,000 homes destroyed and 400,000 residents in exile—nothing less will do. Baker’s plan is fiscally sound, and respected by conservatives and liberals alike. In your speech from Jackson Square on Sept. 15, you promised “one of the largest reconstruction efforts the world has ever seen.” But you did not specify that aid would be available only for the 20,000 homes destroyed outside the federally insured flood zones. What do you say to the residents of the 185,000 other ruined homes, and the small business owners struggling to survive? Seventy percent of the city is still without electricity.

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