Katrina Coverage

A month ago FEMA promised to re-bid some of the no-bid contracts awarded after Katrina. They've yet to do that for four of the biggest contracts involving: the Shaw Group, Bechtel Corporation, CH2M Hill and Fluor Corporation. Those are for temporary housing and are worth about $400 million.
The DHS says they won't re-open those contracts […]

From the AP report "With U.S. Katrina aid, tracing money isn't easy":
Trying to track who is getting what portion of the billions of dollars in federal Hurricane Katrina aid is enough to give any auditor a headache - and is a problem that critics say creates alarming gaps in public oversight.
The database of contracts is […]

Speaking before a Senate panel, David Paulison, acting head of FEMA, says they're going to get new bids on $400 million worth of contracts:
"It sure looks, with hindsight, that FEMA would have been in a much better position if it had had a lot of contracts in place that had been bid that were standby […]

A detailed accounting of some of the fed money spent on cleanup and rebuilding is available, the NYT reports in Many Contracts for Storm Work Raise Questions.
There were 15 contracts over $100 million, and five of those were over $500 million.
And, more than 80% of FEMA $1.5 billion in contracts were no-bid or with limited […]

There's a timeline and a CNN transcript here dealing with Bush using Katrina to take the opportunity to drive down American wages.
See also this excerpt from 9/21's Lou Dobbs show.

No, not as long as Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Howard Dean, and the rest of the Democrats are in charge the looting will continue. However, in "Hurricane looting not over yet", the Right Rev is concerned with the more Republican form of looting:
…Already Halliburton is on hand with a no-bid contract for reconstruction.
Actually, I think […]

Reuters:
Companies with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
At least two major corporate clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President George W. Bush's former campaign manager and a former head of the Federal […]