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| NY Daily News Reveals 9/11 Cash Squandered |
| Monday, December 05, 2005 |
New York Sen. Hillary Clinton once called securing $20 billion from the federal government to help New York City recover after the 9/11 attacks her proudest moment.
But a new study suggests that a substantial portion of the 9/11 money Clinton and Sen. Charles Schumer managed to wangle from the Bush administration has been wasted.
A four-month investigation by New York's Daily News reveals that the process for doling out the $21.4 billion disaster recovery package was "procedurally flawed" - and that there was "little oversight there was over the spending."
"In effect, no one was watching," the News said - including Mrs. Clinton.
As a result, 9/11 recovery aid went to what might charitably be considered pork barrel projects.
Some examples cited by the News include:
Hundreds of millions of dollars were spent on projects that seemingly had nothing to do with 9/11 and lower Manhattan.
Millions more went to help projects already in the works before 9/11 or on the drawing board with no prior funding source.
Substantial sums were given to companies to stay in lower Manhattan even though they had no intention of leaving.
Huge contracts were given to companies and organizations linked to the very officials tasked with deciding how to spend the money.
The 9/11 expenditure report could turn out to be a huge black eye for Sen. Clinton, just as she's gearing up for her 2008 presidential campaign. Especially considering the way the former first lady touted the 9/11 aid package as her biggest accomplishment as Senator.
Asked to describe her proudest achievement two months after the attacks, Clinton didn't miss a beat.
"The fight that we've had to wage on behalf of New York's needs since September 11 has, you know, focused every cell in my body," she told CNN. "That honor was just, you know, extraordinary, to be able to stand on the floor of the Senate and speak on behalf of the people who had demonstrated what America stands for so well."
A few months later, however, Clinton confessed that the $20 billion figure she and Schumer came up with wasn't based on any actual assessment of need, but instead was pretty much arbitrary.
"If [the Bush administration was] going to give $20 billion to fight the [war on terror], I figured they could give $20 billion to help rebuild the city - and it's as good a number as any," she told the News.
But instead of keeping her eye on how the 9/11 cash was being spent, Mrs. Clinton pressed Washington for an additional $20 billion in aid, boasting that she and her New York colleagues had shown themselves to be good stewards of federal largesse. |
posted by Jay Are @ 9:02:00 AM   |
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