Storm relief bill promises more than it delivers

WASHINGTON - From the start, there was reason to question the expansive "what it takes" rebuilding promises touted by President Bush and other national leaders in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. A careful look at the $29 billion Gulf Coast relief package passed by Congress last month suggests how crimped the reality has turned out to be. Approved a few days before Christmas, the package was in such wobbly political shape that it had to be tethered to a must-pass defense spending bill. Even then, it might not have survived without a sustained shove from Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran, a Republican who happens to be from Mississippi. [more from Gulf Coast Reconstruction Watch]