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Arkansas leaders frustrated at grant loss Saturday, Sep 17, 2005 By Alison Vekshin Stephens Washington Bureau WASHINGTON -- Arkansas leaders on Friday expressed exasperation the state was passed over for federal job-creation money aimed at helping Hurricane Katrina evacuees. Officials said they were told the Labor Department ran out of funds in a national emergency grant program because $191.1 million was distributed to Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas. "It amazes me there was not better planning in place," Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., said during a conference call with reporters. "The grants were depleted off the bat without the thought there would be more need from other states down the road," Lincoln said. She said Arkansas needs the money to absorb Katrina victims. She said the state's congressional delegation will seek to replenish the fund through a special appropriation or some other method. Sen. Mark Pryor , D-Ark., said he has had two phone conversations with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and one with the Department of Homeland Security "to try to persuade to release whatever money they can for Arkansas." "I was assured yesterday (Thursday) that they are working on that now," he said. Arkansas applied for a $30 million grant on Sept. 6 to help 15,000 evacuated workers. The state's application is still under review by the Labor Department, spokesman David James said. "We made the determination to get the needed resources to the most directly hit regions first, which also happened to be the first states to apply for emergency funding," James said. Texas received $75 million on Sept. 6. Louisiana got $62.1 million on Sept. 3. Mississippi got $50 million on Sept. 2. Alabama got $4 million on Sept. 1. "That's very disappointing," Gov. Mike Huckabee said. "We've made the application, but obviously we don't control the Washington purse strings." Arkansas, which is hosting about 50,000 evacuees, has more Katrina victims per capita than Texas, Huckabee pointed out. "It just seems completely indefensible that every dime of that money was allocated without consideration for states like ours," Huckabee said. In working with evacuees, Huckabee advocated an approach of helping people first before worrying about paperwork. Pryor said he agreed with that approach, but didn't know if that might have caused other states to qualify earlier for coveted federal grants. "I don't know if we waited too long (on the paperwork)," Pryor said. ""In my view, the federal reimbursement is one of those problems that need to be fixed." Meanwhile, the lawmakers gave President Bush mixed reviews for the disaster recovery plan he put forth in a speech Thursday night. During his address from New Orleans, Bush proposed a series of economic-development incentives including providing job-seeking evacuees with accounts containing as much as $5,000 for job training, education and child care. Another proposal would give low-income individuals free government land to build homes. "Some of that I like," Pryor said. "It depends on how it will be set up and administered. As always in Washington, the devil is in the details." Pryor said he was disappointed Bush did not consult with Congress before outlining a recovery plan. "He failed to give us any real specifics on how this effort is going to proceed and how we are going to pay for it," Lincoln said. Besides money, she said the government need to show some flexibility for recovery efforts that states want to try. Rep. John Boozman, R-Rogers, said Bush's speech had a hopeful tone. "He came out with a plan for giving people hope that their lives would be one day on track, giving them the resources they need to recover from the disaster," he said. Rep. Mike Ross, D-Prescott, said Bush's proposals sound good "on the surface." "The evacuees I've talked to have not received their first dime yet. We've got to move forward and do the work," he said. "There was no speech that was going to be given that was going to erase the two weeks of heartache, outrage, shame and helplessness that Americans have felt," said Rep. Vic Snyder, D-Little Rock. "But I think that he set us up to try to get back on the right road to help these people with rebuilding," Snyder said. Rep. Marion Berry, D-Gillett, expressed concern for the cost, which officials and lawmakers have said could top $200 billion. "We're talking about now as a nation we have two extraordinary expenses," he said. "One is the war in Iraq. The other is the hurricane damage and the loss there." Rob Moritz of the Arkansas News Bureau contributed to this story. -- 30 -- |
