WASHINGTON The federal deficit may have been the last thing onCalifornia congressional leaders' minds Friday as lawmakers approved$10.5 billion in Hurricane Katrina relief aid, but analysts say thenewest burden on the national debt shows a federal unwillingness tobudget for major disasters.
'Obviously it's going to cost a lot of money. My guess is that itwill add tens of billions of dollars to the budget, and since thereis no extra money, it's going to add to the deficit,' said RobertBixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, a D.C.-basedgroup that advocates for the elimination of the national debt.
Members of Congress, Bixby said, 'pretend that emergencies likethis are not going to happen when they make the budget.'
President Bush has vowed that the money approved Friday forHurricane Katrina relief is just a down payment, and that more willfollow for emergency efforts and rebuilding.
'In terms of dollars and cents, we know it's going to be veryexpensive in terms of the federal share,' House AppropriationsChairman Rep. Jerry Lewis, R- Redlands, said.
He noted that Congress spent a total of $14 billion for relief forthe four previous hurricanes that have hit the United States. 'Thisone, all by itself, will be much larger than that, but I don't knowyet what that means,' he said.
Regardless, lawmakers said that with the federal governmentalready spending about $330 billion more than it has, any emergencyfunds will add to the debt but it's a moral imperative to do so.
'We will spend what we have to spend,' Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena, said. But, he added, 'our overall budget picture is veryproblematic. We have deficits as far as the eye can see.'
'We're generous with our children's money rather than our own,'added Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, who said Congress shouldbring back Clinton- era tax policies to reduce the deficit.
'But that's off the mark. Right now the focus has got to be doingeverything we can do to help the people of Louisiana andMississippi,' Sherman said.
Bixby said Congress and the White House do a disservice to thecountry's financial health when they unveil budgets that fail toinclude money everyone knows must be spent: funding for Iraq, forexample, or for long-predicted disasters.
'It's a way of making your numbers look good, and the presidentcan go out and say, 'We're cutting the deficit,' he said, adding thatwhile few predicted the enormity of Hurricane Katrina, Congressshould have been prepared for a major disaster-related budgetary blowand needs to get ready for the next one.
'It's kind of like saying, could New Orleans have been betterprepared? Well, could the federal budget have been better prepared?'
