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)
Showing posts with label Toyota. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Toyota. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
The Demon Barbour of Mississippi
From Campus Progress:
Two and a half years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf region, states like Mississippi are still struggling to provide relief for their residents. [MSNBC]
For example, in Mississippi, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is asking for another $39 million in the new budget to help the elderly and disabled who were forced from their homes after Katrina.
And after he was elected to take outgoing Sen. Trent Lott’s place last month, new Sen. Roger Wicker promised, “It’s not unrealistic to think that the Congress will provide another billion dollars, that’s billion with a ‘b,’ for additional appropriations involving the coast.”
Waaaaait. What about the tons of money the state has already received to help victims of the storm, you ask?
Gov. Haley Barbour is spending it on lots of other, non-Katrina stuff. Two weeks ago, for example, he took $600 million from post-Katrina relief funds and decided to spend it on improvements to the state’s port.
Today he wants to take another $25 million of recovery money to build a new four-lane highway to help a Toyota plant 300 miles away from the Gulf (and located nowhere near the storm zone.) [MSNBC]
A little more about this money:
After the storm hit, the federal government told Mississippi it would pay some of its Medicaid bills so the state could take the money they’d normally spend on the program —about $368 million—to make a Katrina fund.
So Barbour took the money from Medicaid… yet didn’t spend it on Katrina aid… and now wants to build Toyota a new road.
Reilly Morse, with the Mississippi Center for Justice: “Taking money from Medicaid and putting it into a road? Is there no low-income need so sacred that Gov. Barbour won’t rob it?”
It’s not like the program that provides medical assistance to the poor is exactly flush with cash. The state’s Medicaid program is now broke, broke, broke. The state faces a $90 million shortfall between now and June 30 and a whopping $170 million shortfall next year.
Check it out at Campus Progress!
Two and a half years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf region, states like Mississippi are still struggling to provide relief for their residents. [MSNBC]
For example, in Mississippi, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is asking for another $39 million in the new budget to help the elderly and disabled who were forced from their homes after Katrina.
And after he was elected to take outgoing Sen. Trent Lott’s place last month, new Sen. Roger Wicker promised, “It’s not unrealistic to think that the Congress will provide another billion dollars, that’s billion with a ‘b,’ for additional appropriations involving the coast.”
Waaaaait. What about the tons of money the state has already received to help victims of the storm, you ask?
Gov. Haley Barbour is spending it on lots of other, non-Katrina stuff. Two weeks ago, for example, he took $600 million from post-Katrina relief funds and decided to spend it on improvements to the state’s port.
Today he wants to take another $25 million of recovery money to build a new four-lane highway to help a Toyota plant 300 miles away from the Gulf (and located nowhere near the storm zone.) [MSNBC]
A little more about this money:
After the storm hit, the federal government told Mississippi it would pay some of its Medicaid bills so the state could take the money they’d normally spend on the program —about $368 million—to make a Katrina fund.
So Barbour took the money from Medicaid… yet didn’t spend it on Katrina aid… and now wants to build Toyota a new road.
Reilly Morse, with the Mississippi Center for Justice: “Taking money from Medicaid and putting it into a road? Is there no low-income need so sacred that Gov. Barbour won’t rob it?”
It’s not like the program that provides medical assistance to the poor is exactly flush with cash. The state’s Medicaid program is now broke, broke, broke. The state faces a $90 million shortfall between now and June 30 and a whopping $170 million shortfall next year.
Check it out at Campus Progress!
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
All Hail King Barbour (or not)
Barbour is the former head of the Republican National Committee. From that position and from his positions in lobbying he learned good PR. He has good PR people and his strategy is sound, unfortunately the message he is peddling just isn't true.
The Governor and his boosters have credited him with almost everything under the sun since this campaign began and I guess when you've got that much money you don't worry about people noticing.
The newest thing his supporters are trumpeting is a report in the publication Directorship. Directorship couldn't be expected to be biased if it caters specifically to fund managers could it? No. (Note: Sarcasm)
The report says the state is moving on up because of the restrictions Barbour put on consumers access to the courts. We can debate the merits of that legislation later of which there are few, but can we take seriously the report of an organization with the purpose of helping the elite few maximize profits?
States and communities are lifted up economically based on their infrastructure and the education of potential employees far more than anything else. Neither has seen a great change since Barbour took office.
The other thing that Barbour boosters have been trumpeting is the miracle of Toyota coming to Mississippi brought to us almost singlehandedly by Haley himself.
Fact check time:
1. Barbour opposed economic incentives originally for the Wellspring site because it was proposed by Democrats.
2. Barbour later only supported it when he could take credit after most of the work had been done by local officials and legislative Democrats.
3. We still had to bribe Toyota to pick us even with all the work that had been done in advance.
One big project with a lot of jobs in one place may look good for photo ops, campaign ads, and press releases, but it does not solve the economic problems of this state.
While Barbour is trumpeting a Mississippi Miracle the Economic Policy Institute points out that since November of 2003 the growth rate in Mississippi has been LOWER than any other southern state other than Louisiana. One factory doesn't change that reality nor do a half dozen suppliers.
And while Barbour talks about all the new jobs he has supposedly personally brought to Mississippi the unemployment rate is the second highest in the nation above every state except Michigan.
Our photo op Governor needs to show us some real results.
The Governor and his boosters have credited him with almost everything under the sun since this campaign began and I guess when you've got that much money you don't worry about people noticing.
The newest thing his supporters are trumpeting is a report in the publication Directorship. Directorship couldn't be expected to be biased if it caters specifically to fund managers could it? No. (Note: Sarcasm)
The report says the state is moving on up because of the restrictions Barbour put on consumers access to the courts. We can debate the merits of that legislation later of which there are few, but can we take seriously the report of an organization with the purpose of helping the elite few maximize profits?
States and communities are lifted up economically based on their infrastructure and the education of potential employees far more than anything else. Neither has seen a great change since Barbour took office.
The other thing that Barbour boosters have been trumpeting is the miracle of Toyota coming to Mississippi brought to us almost singlehandedly by Haley himself.
Fact check time:
1. Barbour opposed economic incentives originally for the Wellspring site because it was proposed by Democrats.
2. Barbour later only supported it when he could take credit after most of the work had been done by local officials and legislative Democrats.
3. We still had to bribe Toyota to pick us even with all the work that had been done in advance.
One big project with a lot of jobs in one place may look good for photo ops, campaign ads, and press releases, but it does not solve the economic problems of this state.
While Barbour is trumpeting a Mississippi Miracle the Economic Policy Institute points out that since November of 2003 the growth rate in Mississippi has been LOWER than any other southern state other than Louisiana. One factory doesn't change that reality nor do a half dozen suppliers.
And while Barbour talks about all the new jobs he has supposedly personally brought to Mississippi the unemployment rate is the second highest in the nation above every state except Michigan.
Our photo op Governor needs to show us some real results.
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