Biden: Stimulus package aiding New Orleans

WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- U.S. Vice President Joe Biden says the federal stimulus package is helping efforts to rebuild New Orleans and the Gulf Coast years after Hurricane Katrina.

The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune said Monday in advance of the fourth anniversary of the destructive August 2005 hurricane, Biden said stimulus funds are designed for use in communities with great need like rebuilding New Orleans.

"A lot of money in the stimulus act -- covering everything from construction, infrastructure to education -- is money that is discretionary, and the discretionary money is designed to go to the places with the most need or (for) the most innovation," Biden told The Times-Picayune.

Biden also defended the current administration's decision not to include specific projects focused on rebuilding New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in the $786 billion stimulus package.

"Even where we can't technically say that New Orleans qualified over somewhere else, there is always the focus on where is the most need that it can be most effectively spent," the vice president told The Times-Picayune.