Anti-Red Tape Katrina Legislation Hits Red Tape

A spate of bills to cut federal red tape and otherwise make it easier to get aid to victims of Hurricane Katrina has hit a slow patch as lawmakers wrestle over how to shape their response.

Congress zipped through bills providing $62 billion in emergency aid to hurricane victims but the broader legislative response is a work in progress.

Included in this second phase are proposals to provide Medicaid health benefits to those made homeless by Katrina, lift work rules for welfare recipients, and implement tax changes to help hurricane victims and charitable donors. More comprehensive bills are to follow.
Republicans are starting to voice complaints that Democrats are seeking to seize upon the tragedy to pass more ambitious legislation than they otherwise could expect to achieve in the GOP-dominated Congress.

"In some instances, (Democrats are) trying to up the ante and use this crisis to accomplish goals that maybe they wouldn't have otherwise been able to accomplish without a natural disaster," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said. Grassley is at the center of the storm as he negotiates over taxes, welfare and Medicaid.

For example, a House-passed bill to temporarily ease rules requiring that welfare recipients work 30 hours a week for their benefits and extend the welfare program is still pending before the Senate, despite a big push by Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., to clear it for President Bush's signature. Democrats are pressing for a more generous approach.

Grassley has formally introduced a bipartisan tax break plan costing up to $7 billion that would let hurricane victims tap their retirement accounts, assist businesses and encourage charitable donations. A House plan is still taking shape.

On Wednesday, Congress was to begin investigating the government's readiness and response to Katrina at a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing. Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, said the inquiry would investigate the sluggish response at all levels of government.

"The only thing I will agree to ... is the same number of Democrats on the committee as Republicans and both Democrats and Republicans have to sign off on subpoenas," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "Other than that, they're wasting their time talking to me."

Senate Republicans killed the first of several attempts by Democrats to seize on Katrina to add disaster-related funds to a pending spending bill, a $48.9 billion measure funding the budgets of the departments of Commerce and Justice.