August 24, 2006 | By Nathaniel Ward

Big government’s failures after Katrina

A bigger government won't protect us any better against natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina.

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After Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast last August, Congress and the administration immediately jumped into action. They held hearings and produced reports, Heritage homeland security expert James Carafano writes, “detailing many of the shortfalls and miscues that led to an inadequate response to the terrible disaster.”

And these reports all arrived at the same wrong conclusion: that increased federal involvement in disaster recovery would make Americans safer. “Congress should stop looking to Washington to solve every homeland security problem,” Carafano argues. That would be “the wrong way to improve the national response.”

Instead of relying further on the federal government bureaucracy that proved clumsy during Katrina, Carafano argues that Congress should turn to state and local governments for emergency response. “Dealing with disasters is primarily the responsibility of states and local communities,” he says.

Three steps can lead to a solution, Carafano notes:

• Reform misguided federal grant programs that assign money without regard for need. Carafano notes that 40 percent of all homeland security money has become essentially another entitlement.
• Create local offices for the Department of Homeland Security to increase coordination with state and local officials who are best prepared to respond to disaster. This is what the law requires the agency to do, but it hasn’t happened.
• Pushing modernization for the Coast Guard—by far the most effective government agency after Katrina—would allow the agency to better support state and local government.

Ending ‘catch-and-release’

The federal government marked an important milestone yesterday in its fight to secure America’s borders. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced the end of “catch-and-release,” a program that detained illegal border crossers but later released them within the United States. New figures show that 99 percent of those detained at the border are now returned home.

This was one of the basic immigration reforms laid out by James Carafano earlier this month. What other common-sense proposals has Heritage made on immigration reform?

• Reject amnesty for illegal aliens in any future immigration legislation. Illegal immigrants who want to live in the United States should have to leave and return through the same channels as everyone else.
• Enact sensible workplace enforcement by targeting “big companies that intentionally hire illegals to secure big profits.”
• “End the loophole known as ‘birth-right citizenship,’ a flawed reading of the Constitution that grants citizenship to children born here even though their parents entered the country illegally.”
• Congress should enact visa reforms to allow workers to enter the country for short-term work. But it should only be temporary, Carafano warns: “People who want to come here and stay permanently should follow a traditional path to citizenship.”

The importance of dinnertime

In her column today, Heritage’s Rebecca Hagelin reflects on family dinners with her son, who recently went off to attend college.

But it was those hours spent together over the years [at the dinner table] that our children learned of our unfailing love, our deep faith in God, our parental expectations. In those hours, they came to experience a deep sense of security and belonging—of knowing that although they may be far away some day, they will always be part of our home.

These family gatherings are extremely important to a child’s development, Hagelin notes. She cites a survey that finds teenagers are less likely to use drugs when they have regular meals with family members.

Parental involvement on a broader scale is also vitally important. Studies available at Heritage’s FamilyFacts.org demonstrate that children do better in school and get into less trouble when their parents are active in their lives.

Uncovering government waste

“How good is government at wasting our tax dollars?“ Heritage President Ed Feulner asks. Pretty darn good, as it turns out.

The Department of Homeland Security is just one example.

It’s not yet five years old, but it’s already experienced at throwing away cash. A recent congressional report found that 32 DHS contracts “experienced significant overcharges, wasteful spending or mismanagement.” Federal credit cards were used to buy beer-brewing equipment and iPods. Tax money was squandered on luxury hotels and “training” sessions at golf and tennis resorts.

The department says it’s well aware of the problem, and it has offered a rather counterproductive solution: hire more bureaucrats—on the taxpayer’s tab—to investigate excessive waste on the taxpayer’s tab. DHS says it hopes to add 200 new inspectors next year and even more down the line.

The real way to investigate waste “isn’t to hire more bureaucrats to supervise what the current bureaucrats are doing,” Feulner writes. “There’s a simpler, cheaper and more permanent solution: Allow 300 million Americans to review how government spends our money.”

Unfortunately, bipartisan legislation cosponsored by 29 Senators that would do just that has been secretly blocked by an unknown Senator. The law would require the government to make a publicly available list of all government grants and spending. Is it really any surprise, then, that die-hard supporters of secret spending aren’t willing to come forward and announce their opposition to the bill?

In other news

• America and its European allies are likely to reject Iran’s offer to engage in negotiations that do not include discussion of its nuclear program.
• In yet another example of the failures of the bureaucratic Transportation Security Agency, the AP reports that more than half of the federal airport security screeners in Orlando failed to detect explosives and other weapons.
• The Canadian Medical Association has concluded that if patients were allowed to purchase private health insurance they would receive better and more timely care. Canada’s government-run health program, held up by liberals as a model for the United States, is tremendously expensive and often fails to treat patients quickly. The government has been known to crack down on private clinics that offer better care.
• The Food and Drug Administration decided today to allow sale of the “morning-after pill” without a prescription. Those buying the drug, designed to prevent pregnancy within three days of intercourse, would have to prove they are at least 18 years old.
• European governments again pledged their commitment to send peacekeepers to Lebanon. But, the AP reports, real questions remain about who will actually supply the thousands of troops necessary to do the job.

Coming up at Heritage

To attend these or any other Heritage Foundation events, RSVP at Heritage’s events website. Or you can watch these events live online at Heritage.org. All times are Eastern.

• On Wednesday, September 20 at noon, Heritage hosts a special screening of Things of the Spirit , a film on the personal and political life of President Calvin Coolidge, who was more than the “capitalist tool” he’s remembered as.

Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation.

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