Congressman Bennie Thompson Takes On Barbour On Housing And Recovery

Families displaced by Hurricane Katrina need our continued help. As of last Friday, there were still 5,741 Mississippi families living in FEMA provided temporary housing units.

One of the major obstacles in providing housing for disaster victims has been the reluctance of Mississippi’s leaders to provide assistance to those who need it the most. Last September, the Governor stated that “housing is, and will continue to be, the most pressing issue facing Coastal recovery.” Despite that statement, the Governor requested and received permission from HUD to reprogram $600 million intended for the construction of low and middle income housing for a port expansion project.

In response to this I, along with eleven other Members of the House, have sent a letter to the Appropriations Committee asking them to prevent the State from using these funds to expand the port. This is a question of priorities. Economic development is critical to the recovery of the coast, but how can the state justify moving forward when low and middle income families are being forced to move out-of-state because there are no locally based affordable housing options?

In addition, the National Deficit and Reduction Act of 2005 provided Mississippi with $700 million to help restore health care in the disaster area and provide the State with the ability to match Federal grants for hurricane relief. Somehow, these funds wound up going to the State’s general fund, where the Governor tried to use them to raise judicial salaries. To make matters worse, the Governor attempted to divert additional hurricane relief funds to improve a highway in north Mississippi that leads to a Toyota plant.

It is a question of priorities. Apparently providing affordable housing solutions to the victims of Hurricane Katrina is not high on some priority lists.

In better news, the Committee on Homeland Security along with the Financial Services Committee joined forces on Wednesday to pass H.R. 6276, the Public Housing Disaster Relief Act of 2008, that I cosponsored with Congressman Childers (D-MS) and Congressman Cazayoux (D-LA). This will streamline federal funding to help repair public housing units that receive damage during future disasters.

The Committee on Homeland Security has also held several hearings exploring the high levels of formaldehyde in FEMA supplied travel trailers - we have to make sure that we provide health care for those that FEMA may have put in danger. In response to this, Congressman Barrow (D-GA) and I introduced the Travel Trailer Health Registry Act. This will require FEMA to work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to create a health registry of those who lived in travel trailers, provide health screenings to these individuals, and track their health status as we move into the future.

We must hold Federal agencies accountable for their mistakes, especially when their mistakes endanger the health of disaster victims. As we move forward, I pledge to work with any and all Members of Congress who share my priorities--to hold FEMA and HUD accountable and rebuild the Gulf Coast.

- Homeland Security Committee Chair Congressman Bennie Thompson (MS-02)

Outrage: Haley Barbour To Divert Hurricane Money To North Mississippi Road Construction

Barbour: Use storm money for Toyota, rainy day By NATALIE CHANDLER

"We still have people down there in FEMA (trailers)," said Rep. Frances Fredericks, D-Gulfport. "Why can't we take the money and make conditions better, or at least livable, for those it was intended to help?"

Sen. Debbie Dawkins, D-Pass Christian, said, "There is a perception on the Coast that the governor controls the money, and he is spending it in other places. Until (recovery needs) and Medicaid get addressed, I'm not going along with any half-baked ideas about road paving."

Latest Haley Barbour Outrage - Pine Belt Progressive

...it’s not about “taking responsibility” for oneself, it’s about the fact that the governor has put our recovery money into everything but rebuilding the housing that is needed for these people to move out of those trailers...

Go to the links. You need to read this.

Thank You John Edwards For Class And A Focus On Poverty And Recovery

John Edwards ended his campaign the same place he started it.

"to remind the country that we as citizens and as a government have a moral responsibility to each other and what we do together matters"

thecount said it very well in the comments:

Thank you John and Elizabeth Edwards for fighting the good fight. Thank you for speaking up for the poor. Thank you for pushing for universal health care. Thank you for keeping the discussion on these topics which are so important. I can't help but think he was doing the Lord's work. God bless him.

It is with his return to New Orleans that I go back to certain numbers:
There are 35,129 Mississippians are still living in FEMA housing and only $1.64 billion of that money had actually been spent re-building the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Does Gene Taylor Stand With Those Needing Housing Or With Industry And The Port?

Gene Taylor hasn't been shy in the past about his opinions on Mississippi Gulf Coast recovery issues.

(Y)ou can try to throw as much as you can on the backs of Louisianians, but I'm a witness as to what happened in Mississippi. You folks fell on your face. You get an F-minus in my book. Maybe the president made a very good move when he asked you to leave your job.

He also said in a television interview that there needed to be a national registry for sex offenders and insurance company executives.

The biggest issue recently has been the diversion of $600 million in housing funds to the port of Gulfport.

He has been quite open with his opinion on most recovery issues so far. What is his opinion here?

Does he stand with the people of the Coast who still need housing and need it at a price where they can afford it?

Let me know if he's made a public comment on it which I've missed. His is an important voice and his opinion is needed.

Unbalanced Mississippi Coastal Recovery On PBS

Bill Moyers' television show covered the Turkey Creek community, the Steps Coalition, and more in this video that can be viewed at the following link:

Recovery Gone Wrong?

New York TImes Reports On Mississippi's Spending On Coast Housing

The New York Times:

The nature of that program helps explain the unhappiness in some neighborhoods. It provided grants of up to $150,000 to homeowners who lived outside of the federally defined flood plain and so did not have flood insurance to cover their losses when their houses were swamped by the storm surge.

To be eligible, families had to have carried regular homeowners’ insurance, so that, as the governor said when he was selling the plan to Congress, “we’re not bailing out irresponsible people.”

But advocates for the poor said that requirement barred many of the least affluent, especially retirees and the disabled, who live on fixed incomes. “The fact is, people who have no money choose food and medicine, and not insurance,” said Ashley Tsongas, a policy adviser for the aid group Oxfam America. “That moral superiority doesn’t recognize the reality people face.”

Renters were also excluded from the program, as they were in Louisiana, and homeowners who had wind damage were also not covered. Some federal officials have said Louisiana’s decision to help cover wind losses is one reason its program almost ran out of money.

... But some community advocates are dubious, noting that before the storm only 10 percent of the port jobs went to low-income residents. They also think the cost per job will be too high.

And they note that the port’s own master plan envisions a new tourist and casino development. “It’s not all about bananas,” said Reilly Morse, a lawyer for the Mississippi Center for Justice.

Mr. Morse and many others who oppose the port plan say the state should first ensure that all the families now living in more than 10,000 government trailers have a permanent place to live, that rental housing gets built and that all homeowners can repair their houses.

“I don’t have any problem with economic development and expanding the port, but not at the cost of people,” said James W. Crowell, president of the N.A.A.C.P. branch in Biloxi, just down the beach from Gulfport.

The New York Times Article

We often rightfully complain that much of the media has forgotten us after the immediate interest after Hurricane Katrina. I'm glad they're paying at least some attention.

Gene Taylor Stands Up For Mississippi on Insurance On House Floor

He explains how the plan will save the government money, be fairer to citizens, and that many national Republican leaning groups support it.

He goes over briefly how an adjuster tried to shift the cost for his loss onto the federal government even though it was clearly covered by his policy.

Thanks to AM in the Morning for spotting it.

My Letter in the Clarion Ledger

Barbour's leadership didn't fix everything

In a recent letter ("Barbour's post-Katrina leadership shows," Sept. 9), Glenn L. McCullogh Jr. praised the governor's response to Hurricane Katrina. He gave Gov. Haley Barbour the "Holy Haley" treatment, saying Haley was like a "lighthouse beacon."

I must respectfully disagree, as:

- Our congressional delegation, led by then-Senate Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran working in a bipartisan way, won us the reconstruction dollars we so desperately needed.

- The situation with thousands still living in FEMA trailers and neighborhoods still without life in communities like Biloxi and Gulfport is unacceptable.

- Some $1 billion disbursed isn't so impressive when you consider the additional $1 billion wasted.
As a citizen of our fine Gulf Coast, I can understand how folks from outside the Coast think everything is fixed, but the truth is it isn't, and we need help.

We won't get that help until we face the truth about our leadership.

John Leek

The Clarion Ledger picked the title: Barbour's leadership didn't fix everything

Finding Katrina Trailers For What?

From the Sun Herald:

The Federal Emergency Management Agency says its still has travel trailers at 1,200 addresses in Pearl River County. County building inspectors are tracking them down.

They lost them?

Pichon said so far he has received no instructions other than to locate all the travel trailers and report on the status of them.

"They told us to go out and find these travel trailers and see how many are occupied and how many have pulled permits and are making progress," Pichon said in a http://www.picayuneitem.com article.

So once they find them they are just going to catalog them?

"FEMA gave us a list and asked us to help out, but we don't know where it's going to lead. FEMA asked the county to see if people are building or if they (the travel trailers) are just sitting there vacant," Lumpkin said.

Well I hope FEMA knows what it is doing besides buying back poisoned trailers. Transparency is a necessity. It's unfortunate we don't have it.

The Sun Herald Article

John Eaves' New Ad "Ideas"

"I've got so many ideas to move Mississippi forward I've got to talk fast"

- Raise Teacher Pay
- Cut Grocery Tax
- Health Insurance for Children
- (Push Companies to) Pay Claims
- Cut (Reconstruction) Red Tape
- Get Tough With Employers (Who Hire Illegals)
- Create Jobs (By Investing In Mississippi Companies)

Barbour Gets the ThinkProgress Treatment

After noting that Giuliani said that Haley Barbour would be on everyone's list for VP, Think Progress goes into detail on why he might not be the best choice for any ticket offering up these "lowlights":

Family members and lobbyists profited from Katrina tragedy: “Among the beneficiaries are Barbour’s own family and friends, who have earned hundreds of thousands of dollars from hurricane-related business. A nephew, one of two who are lobbyists, saw his fees more than double in the year after his uncle appointed him to a special reconstruction panel.”

Owned controlling interest in 2002 New Hampshire phone jamming company: For nearly two hours on election day 2002, subcontractors for the telemarketing firm GOP Marketplace tied-up Democratic and union phone banks with repeated hang up calls. Multiple GOP officials eventually either pled guilty to or were convicted of criminally violating federal communications law. Barbour’s investment group, Helm Partners, was not only a major investor in GOP Marketplace, but it also held a controlling interest in the firm.

As a lobbyist, he represented firm indicted in Tom DeLay’s money laundering scandal: As a lobbyist for Barbour Griffith & Rogers, Barbour represented The Alliance for Quality Nursing Home Care Inc., “a corporate coalition of 14 of the country’s largest for-profit nursing home companies.” The Alliance wrote a check for $100,000 “ended up illegally funding Republican candidates for the Texas statehouse” in 2002. The check was eventually used as evidence in the case that led to indictments for money laundering against former Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX).

A former tobacco lobbyist, he killed Mississippi’s successful anti-smoking program: From 1998 to 2002, Barbour’s lobbying firm “was paid a total of $3.8 million by the tobacco companies.” As governor of Mississippi, he led an effort to defund and ultimately kill the state’s anti-smoking program, considered to be “the nation’s most successful anti-smoking programs.”

Directed large amounts of reconstruction funds to wealthy homeowners: Barbour and Mississippi’s two Republican Senators steered an “unprecedented” $23.5 billion in federal reconstruction aid, but by waiving a HUD requirement that “70 percent of the funds are supposed to be allocated to low- and moderate-income people.” Barbour “badly skewed” the funds towards “wealthy homeowners,” with only 25 percent reaching “the poorer segments of the population.”

Most of the quotes are hyperlinked on their site to supporting documents or articles and you can check that out at ThinkProgress.org

NBC News on Unbalanced Recovery

"but not everyone is sharing in Biloxi's boom"

Take a look, it's not often we get national coverage.