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U.S.
Senator Member of the Agriculture, Energy and Veterans Affairs
Committees |
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For Immediate
Release September 18, 2005 |
CONTACT: Cody Wertz – Press Secretary 202-228-3630 Jen Clanahan – Deputy Press Secretary 303-455-7600 |
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| Salazar Calls on President to “Show Courage and Leadership” in Gulf Rebuilding Efforts; end “Fiscal Hypocrisy” Denver, CO – President Bush must show “courage and leadership” in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Sen. Ken Salazar said today in a news conference from his Denver office. Salazar urged the President to get behind an independent commission to investigate what went wrong with the response to Katrina, to support a Chief Financial Officer to oversee the potential $250 billion cost of rebuilding the Gulf coast, and to “come clean” with the American people about how the federal government will pay for the rebuilding, as well as pay for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, without further exploding record federal debt. In urging the President to drop his opposition to the independent commission, Salazar said, “this is not about blame or partisanship; it’s about protecting the American people and making sure we learn the lessons of the Katrina response, which was so clearly inadequate.” Salazar, a co-sponsor of the bill to create the commission modeled on the successful 9/11 Commission, argued that “the government cannot investigate itself, and the American people need to know that we will do everything we can to learn from the mistakes made in this disaster and ensure that we are much better prepared next time.” “We know that the 9/11 Commission formula works. It is the best approach. The President resisted creating the 9/11 Commission, but it succeeded because it was largely free from political pressures, outside of Congress and outside of the administration.” Salazar also promoted a bi-partisan proposal he is cosponsoring to create a Chief Financial Officer to fight waste and fraud as the government spends billions to rebuild the Gulf Coast. The CFO would be appointed by the President, confirmed by the Senate, and would be responsible for the efficient use of federal funds in all activities relating to the recovery from Hurricane Katrina. The CFO would review expenditures before they are approved, have oversight and authority to block bad contracts. The CFO office would be staffed with experts detailed from relevant federal agencies, would have management and oversight of each federal agency involved in the recovery effort, and would work in conjunction with the inspectors general in each of these agencies. Salazar called on President Bush to “come clean with the American people and end the fiscal hypocrisy that has resulted in a national debt of $7.96 trillion--nearly $27,000 for every man, woman and child in America.” “The President wants to have his cake and eat it too – continuing policies that have created enormous deficits, while refusing to tell the American people how he intends to pay for the war in Iraq, the rebuilding of the Gulf, his plan to privatize social security, and his insistence on additional tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.”
Key Debt and Deficit Data Senator Salazar presented the following economic data during his Denver news conference. National debt of $7.96 trillion
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