| Democrats tour coast for Katrina's 2nd anniversary
Sunday, August 12, 2007
 Printable Format
Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS — House Majority Whip James Clyburn and a delegation of about 15 House Democrats arrived in New Orleans today for a tour of coastal Mississippi and New Orleans on the approach of the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
Clyburn, who met with reporters briefly, offered few specifics of what the delegation might do until the representatives could meet late today and early Monday with state and city officials, including Gov. Kathleen Blanco and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.
Clyburn, of South Carolina, said that the group, which also includes House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, wanted to get an update on the Road Home program, under which storm-affected residents can get government money to repair their homes or accept a buyout for their property.
More than 180,000 people applied for Road Home and officials expect about 140,000 homeowners to be eligible for the federally funded, state-administered grants of up to $150,000 for uninsured losses from hurricanes Katrina or Rita in 2005.
Clyburn said the group's overall goal would be to form "a new group partnership" with Louisiana and Mississippi's efforts to recover from Katrina.
After meeting with reporters on Monday, the group planned a bus tour of Pass Christian and Bay St. Louis, Miss., two areas hard hit by Katrina. A community meeting on insurance-related issues also was scheduled for Bay St. Louis.
On Tuesday, the delegation planned to visit an elementary school in New Orleans, tour health centers in the Lower 9th Ward and St. Bernard Parishes — areas largely wiped out by post-Katrina flooding, and visit the site of the Industrial Canal Levee break.
The group also planned to tour the levee system on Tuesday before meeting with officials of the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board, which are dealing with heavily damaged systems left behind by the floods.
Click here to read the article in the Houston Chronicle
| 
