WaPo: Hurricanes give lobbyists hope

[dajoki]

WP
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9507518

Hurricanes give lobbyists hope
Industry groups recast their wish lists as relief

By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
Updated: 10:16 p.m. ET Sept. 27, 2005

With Congress dangling as much as $200 billion in hurricane-related aid, lobbyists for oil companies, airlines, manufacturers and others are clamoring to get their share.

"It's been all Katrina all the time, and now it's Rita, too," said J. Steven Hart, chairman of Williams & Jensen PLLC, a top lobbying firm in the capital. "Except for the Supreme Court, hurricane recovery is what Congress will be up to so we have no choice but to adapt."

Lawmakers are receptive to many of these requests, congressional aides said. For example, House Energy and Commerce committee chair Joe Barton (R-Texas) is moving legislation this week -- much of it recommended by lobbyists -- that would waive regulations to help oil companies build new refineries. The reason: the hurricanes drew attention to the nation's dependence on a small row of Gulf coast refineries.

The oil lobbyists, like so many others, are using the storms as an excuse to win long-sought legislation, even when their plans relate only tangentially to the hurricanes.

[slay]

1. "The oil lobbyists, like so many others, are using the storms as an excuse

to win long-sought legislation, even when their plans relate only tangentially to the hurricanes." Yep, sounds like typical Republican bullshit to me. :(

[dajoki]

2. and not only oil lobbyists...

all the greedy bastards want a piece. it's in article.

[slay]

3. Yeah - they're like vultures

Everyone wants a piece - not to help or do what's right, but to line their pockets. And with the Bush people running things you can expect lots of waste, incompetence, etc. :(

[dajoki]

4. sad part is...

besides the poor people who were devestated, we expect the greed to rear its ugly head from this crew.

[slay]

5. Kick

n/t

[dusty64]

6. Disgusting, but

pretty much says it all. :puke: