Seventeen months after the hurricane and levee failures, here are the numbers on the rebuilding funds as reported by a January 27 article in the Wall Street Journal

Here are the numbers…

1. Of $42 billion given to FEEMA for Gulf Coast relief, the agency has only spent $25 billion. (Of that amount, they’ve spent $4 billion on administrative costs.)

2. Of the $5.8 billion the Army Corps of Engineers has received to repair levees in and around New Orleans, they’ve spent only $1.3 billion.

3. Of the $17 billion the Department of Housing and Urban Development received, they’ve only spent $1.7 billion.

4. New Orleans officians say they’ve received only about 14% of the $900 million they were promised for rebuilding.

5. A $7.5 billion fund to aid washed out home owners has barely been touched.

6. The Road Home Program in Louisiana has received applications from over 100,000. Only 258 have received grants.

7. What’s the cause? According the the Journal article:

“A spool of federal red tape, abbetted by state’s antifraud regulations, is delaying building projects and aid handouts.

After Hurricane Andrew and 9/11, the federal government streamlined aid by waiving the Stafford Act.

Info about the Stafford Act from Wikipedia.