Katrina aid in a stall amid GOP infighting

[struggle4progress]

By Chicago Tribune and The Associated Press

<snip> But as lawmakers left for a long weekend Friday stymied over major budget legislation, gridlock and skepticism in Washington, D.C., have combined to slow continued Katrina aid to a crawl. <snip>

In addition, despite a month-old pledge, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has yet to reopen four of its biggest no-bid contracts for Hurricane Katrina work and won't do so until the contracts are virtually complete. A promise to hire more minority-owned firms also is largely unfulfilled. <snip>

Clear signals from D.C. are always hard to come by, but especially so these days. Part of the problem, said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., is that nobody there knows for sure what Category 5 protection would cost.

After four years of massive spending on 9/11 relief, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the new Medicare drug program, GOP conservatives in the House have pushed back hard against Republican moderates on spending. <snip>

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2002619694_katcontract12.html