Another Katrina Outrage -- Landrieu Wants a Quarter Trillion [yes "Trillion"] Dollars

Veronique de Rugy writes in TCS:

Louisiana lawmakers have come up with a request for $250 billion in federal reconstruction funds for Louisiana alone. That's more than $50,000 per person in the state. This money would come on top of the $62.3 billion that Congress has already appropriated for emergency relief and on top of payouts from businesses, national charities and insurers.

According to Senator Mary Landrieu (D, LA), author of the Louisiana bill, "Louisiana will be rebuilt by Louisianans. New Orleans will be rebuilt by New Orleans. And the Southern Louisiana will be rebuilt under the leadership of the people who call it home." Yet, the bill waves the normal cost-sharing requirements to shift the entire cost to the federal government. In other words, Ms Landrieu is expecting federal taxpayers to foot 100 percent of the bill.

Read it here.

Outrageous..., outrageous! Yet so typical... This sort of arrogant money grab will quickly chill whatever public sympathy Louisiana officials had in the aftermath of Katrina. As Ms. de Rugy notes, this sort of thing "might make many Americans rethink their inclination to be generous next time around." This cynical moneygrubbing undermines and cheapens the best aspects of our national culture and impoverishes us all.

Faugh!