With Hurricane Katrina gone three weeks now, the political debate of how to pay for the cleanup is heating up. Projections show the cost could exceed $200 billion, nearly doubling the federal deficit in the course of a single natural disaster. The Bush Administration has basically said that it's all going on the credit card. I think Republican Rep. Gil Gutknecht (MN) put it well, "It is not my definition of compassion to simply write checks from the federal government and expect our children and grandchildren to pay for it."
Democrats in Congress, sadly, are once again waiting to be the naysayers instead of stepping up with a tax plan. Yes, you can't raise $200 billion without taxes (unless you want to try fees a la MN Governor Tim Pawlenty).
As dumb as the collective Democratic Party is in Washington, at least they still have Norm Coleman to make them look good. His contribution to the Katrina discussion? "What is needed now is strong leadership." He expressed disappointment that Bush has not created "a key leadership position to coordinate, oversee, and implement" the recovery effort. Bush did have someone in a leadership position. His name was Michael Brown and he was more qualified to herd Arabian horses than manage natural disasters, in keeping with Bush's tradition of picking people who are loyal instead of competent. Sound familiar, Norm?
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