RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
SUSAN STAMBERG, host:
Steve Inskeep is away. I'm Susan Stamberg.
Congressional leaders say they will act today on the Bush administration's request for another $52 billion in emergency relief funds. About half that money is earmarked for victims of Hurricane Katrina. The rest is to go to relief efforts that are costing the federal government close to a billion dollars a day. Republicans and Democrats agree that more funding is needed, but NPR's David Welna reports the agreement ends there.
DAVID WELNA reporting:
Just hours after the 9/11 attacks four years ago, lawmakers from both parties stood shoulder to shoulder outside the Capitol and sang "God Bless America," but in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, there's no politically unifying external enemy to blame. Instead, the ruling Republicans have been in full damage control mode as Democrats have gone into full attack mode, emboldened by popular anger over the handling of the storm's aftermath. Even some Republican committee chairmen vowed to hold hearings on the troubled response to Katrina, but GOP leaders pre-empted much of that potentially embarrassing probing yesterday by forming their own special Katrina committee. Only two Republicans, Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, appeared before reporters to announce the new panel. Frist called the initial relief response to Hurricane Katrina unacceptable at local, state and federal levels, and he offered this remedy.
Senator BILL FRIST (Republican, Tennessee): The House and Senate are forming a bipartisan committee made up of senior members. This joint committee will be tasked with reviewing at all levels of government the immediate preparation and recovery from Hurricane Katrina.
WELNA: Americans, Frist added, deserve answers, but when reporters asked why there were no Democrats at the announcement, there was no answer from either Frist or Hastert, who both silently hurried away. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid later told NPR there was no enthusiasm among senior Democrats for the proposed committee.
Senator HARRY REID (Democrat, Nevada): To have now a Republican-controlled Congress investigate a Republican president is like me playing baseball. I'm the pitcher but I've also got a new wrinkle in here. I'm going to call the balls and strikes that I throw.
WELNA: Maine Republican Susan Collins, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said she'd agreed to be the Senate leader of the investigation, though she stressed she did not know much about the new panel. Collins still intends to begin public hearings on Katrina next week in her own committee.
Senator SUSAN COLLINS (Republican, Maine): The first hearing will focus on: What should we be doing right now? How can we assist the recovery? Ultimately, we will be having a series of hearings to find out how we could better improve our response.
WELNA: Meanwhile, on the Senate floor, Democrats, such as Illinois' Dick Durbin, said the images of the hurricane should weigh on lawmakers' consciences.
Senator RICHARD DURBIN (Democrat, Illinois): Hurricane Katrina has opened a door which has remained shut for too long. It is a door which reflects the reality of being poor in America and what it means.
WELNA: Which is why, said North Dakota Democrat Kent Conrad, Senate Republicans should not stick to their pre-hurricane plans to cut projected Medicaid spending by $10 billion over the next five years, along with other mandatory spending cuts, while at the same time approving $70 billion in tax cuts.
Senator KENT CONRAD (Democrat, North Dakota): This is not a time to be cutting services to the most needy among us. This is not the time to cut food stamps, cut medical care for the indigent, to cut student loans.
WELNA: Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg, a New Hampshire Republican, was unmoved. He said he had no intention of putting off the proposed spending cuts, which he insisted won't affect hurricane victims.
Senator JUDD GREGG (Chairman, Budget Committee): There will be no services cut, and to tie it into Katrina is so gross in its representation as to its inaccuracy as to be beyond blatant politics.
WELNA: But in a sign, Katrina may be straining party unity. Other Republicans appear to have no stomach now for shrinking spending on the poor while cutting taxes for the wealthy. Senator Mike DeWine is an Ohio Republican.
Senator MIKE DeWINE (Republican, Ohio): I think we're going to have to look at it. You know, I'm very concerned about taking this money out of Medicaid and I think that the Senate needs to step back and really do a reassessment here.
WELNA: And with federal spending on relief efforts expected to keep rising, such demands for a reassessment of priorities will likely keep growing as well.
David Welna, NPR News.
Copyright © 2005 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.