Levee Improve'ts VToed by Clinton

Just in case the LeftoWonks forget:

February 17, 1995: Clinton administration officials argue that the flood-control efforts are local projects, not national, and should be paid for by local taxes.

June 23, 1995: ... hurricane project, approved and financed since 1965, to protect more than 140,000 West Bank residents east of the Harvey Canal is in jeopardy.

The Clinton administration is holding back a Corps of Engineers report recommending that the $120 million project proceed.

July 22, 1999: The bill would provide $47 million for "southeast Louisiana flood control projects," $16 million for "Lake Pontchartrain and vicinity hurricane protection," $15.9 million for the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal Lock on the Industrial Canal in New Orleans and $2 million for "West Bank hurricane protection -- from New Orleans to Venice."

Most of the projects received significant increases over what the Clinton administration had proposed. The exception: general flood control projects for southeast Louisiana, which remained at the $47 million suggested by Clinton. Local officials had hoped for double that amount.

(Source: NO Times-Picayune) via EU Rota

The Speaker of the House, characteristically blunt, has suggested that rebuilding NO may simply not happen.

Simply put: how much money should the taxpayer (and insurance-premium-payer) shovel into a hole which is beneath sea-level?

Good question.

UPDATE: Captain's Quarters tells us that the 17th Street levee broke in the section WHICH WAS RECENTLY UPGRADED. Seems like solid concrete, several feet thick, doesn't have the holding power of good old-fashioned dirt...