Washington Watch for March 30, 2008

• By GERARD SHIELDS
• Washington Correspondent
• Published: Mar 30, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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With the departure of former U.S. Sen. John Edwards from the presidential race, a vacuum exists over who will be the Katrina candidate.

Edwards, D-N.C., kicked off and ended his campaign in New Orleans, trying to draw attention to the plight of Hurricane Katrina victims.
Both U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., have issued detailed plans on how they would help southern Louisiana get back on its feet.

The former first lady’s Katrina plan calls for the creation of the Gulf Coast Corps, governed by a federal-state-local board. Much like President Franklin Roosevelt’s public works job corps during the Great Depression, the Clinton plan would enlist workers to confront infrastructure needs in the ravaged regions.

The corps would provide financial incentives to professionals, such as teachers, doctors and nurses, as well as hiring workers for public works such as rebuilding fire stations, hospitals, schools, roads, sewer and water systems.

Clinton would also take the federal rebuilding coordinator out of the Department of Homeland Security and put that office in the West Wing of the White House, reporting directly to the president.

Clinton’s plan would call for a Katrina-Rita census that would canvass all federal assistance needs of Gulf Coast communities, and a “stern-to-stern” review of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans and progress.

Clinton also wants to investigate how insurance is administered, including a look at the National Flood Insurance Program. She calls for more public housing development and providing financial incentives to builders and developers of the region’s housing stock.

Noting that New Orleans crime has spiked since the hurricane, Clinton has pledged to use federal dollars to add 200 new police officers to city beats. As her husband did, Clinton would also elevate the Federal Emergency Management Agency director to Cabinet-level status.

“Rebuilding New Orleans is not a local obligation,” Clinton said in a speech last August. “It is an American obligation. And we must finally begin to fulfill it.”

Obama has issued an extensive five-page plan to aid the region.

He promises to bring the city levees up to Category 5 storm strength by 2011. Like Clinton, he pledges to support the restoration of Louisiana’s wetlands, noting that every four miles of wetlands can absorb about a foot of a hurricane’s storm surge.

Obama would also use federal funds to deploy more police officers in New Orleans, while also helping communities impacted by the storm hire community prosecutors.

Both Obama and Clinton call for streamlining FEMA bureaucracy, including taking a look at the Stafford Act that governs disaster spending. Obama noted that Louisiana and its communities have had to fill out over 5 million forms to get reconstruction money.
A federal rebuilding coordinator would also report directly to the president in an Obama White House. Obama would also use a loan forgiveness program to lure medical professionals back to the region and he supports the plan for a major medical complex in downtown New Orleans and a new veterans hospital.