Effort to stop housing-funds diversion fails
A congressional effort to prevent Mississippi from using millions of dollars in Hurricane Katrina housing money for a project to make a Gulf Coast port one of the largest in the nation appears dead for the year.
This past spring, 2nd District U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, was among about a dozen lawmakers who asked House Appropriations Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., to insert language in a federal funding bill that would block Mississippi’s diversion. The letter said the transfer was unreasonable because the state hadn’t met its post-Katrina housing needs.
It’s unlikely the issue will be addressed before Congress adjourns at the end of the month, Appropriations Committee spokeswoman Kirsten Brost said Friday.
Clarion Ledger
9/19/8
Magnolia Tribune
