White House 'stonewalling Katrina response inquiry'

US senators on Jan. 25 accused President Bush of stonewalling a congressional inquiry into the government response last year to Hurricane Katrina, despite earlier promises to cooperate. The senators said the White House had failed to make key officials available to the inquiry or turn over documents on internal government communications in the days before and immediately after the storm hit New Orleans and the Gulf coast on Aug. 29. One document leaked recently showed the White House situation room was warned the same day that Katrina would "likely lead to severe flooding and/or levee breaching." On Sept. 1, however, President Bush told reporters, "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." A few days later, he also promised to cooperate with a "thorough" congressional investigation into the relief debacle that followed the storm, in which tens of thousands of New Orleans residents were left stranded for days in the flooded city. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), involved in the inquiry which is due to report in March, accused the administration of breaking that promise. "There has been a near-total lack of cooperation that has made it impossible, in my opinion, for us to do the thorough investigation that we have a responsibility to do," he said. White House spokesperson Scott McClellan said on Jan. 25 that 120 administration officials had been made available for the inquiry but that in some cases conversations between top officials had to remain classified for the presidency to function properly. "That's the bottom line here," McClellan said. The Bush administration has refused to hand over email correspondence about the storm and has prevented officials involved in the government reaction from appearing before the Senate. Those officials include the White House chief of staff, Andrew Card, and his deputy, Joe Hagin, Frances Fragos Townsend, the president's adviser on homeland security, and his deputy, Ken Rapuano. Some senior Republicans are also dissatisfied. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) said the administration had been telling other government officials outside the president's staff not to testify about communications with the White House about the storm. Michael Brown, the former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told the inquiry that he had been told not to comment on his conversations with top White House officials. "I completely disagree with that practice," Collins, chair of the Senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee, told the New York Times. "If our response to an event that was predicted, known and trackable was so bad, think what it would be to an unexpected terrorist attack." The White House has also withdrawn its support for a bipartisan congressional proposal to create an agency to help New Orleans residents who had no insurance. The administration said it objected on principle and argued that funds should be channeled through community development programs already in the budget.