WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- With the 2006 hurricane season just four months away, critics say U.S. President Bush's leadership in helping the Katrina-ravaged coast has been weak.
Money and actual clean-up efforts have been slow in getting to Mississippi and Louisiana despite Bush's Sept. 15 promise from New Orleans' Jackson Square to "do what it takes," The Washington Post reports.
Critics say Donald E. Powell, the person charged with coordinating the effort, doesn't have enough power.
Quality housing for evacuees has also been called to question.
Aside from a restoration of New Orleans levees to Category 3 strength -- Katrina was Category 5 -- there has been no plan set forth on how to rebuild the city.
Bush rejected a call this week by Rep. Richard Baker, R-La., to allow the government to buy back mortgages of homes around New Orleans damaged by Katrina.
He opted to stick with a $6.2 billion plan to rebuild 20,000 homes outside of the federally insured flood zones, which critics says leaves out 185,000 ruined houses.
They say without more action, returning residents and businesses back to the area will get even more difficult.
