Fox - President Looking Out For Small Businesses, But People Still Living Outside & In Tents
Reported by Donna - December 21, 2005
All this week on Studio B with Shepard Smith, the show has originated in those areas hit by Hurricane Katrina. Earlier this week he was in New Orleans, today he was in Pass Christian, Mississippi. With huge piles of debris behind him, Smith said that Wendall Goler was reporting from the White House on a bill the president was going to sign to help Katrina victims.
The bill he was talking about was legislation, that he outlined in September,. It would provide tax relief and small business loans to the areas affected. Goler said that they expected the president within minutes, yet Studio B never went back to cover it if it even happened.
Comments: What I found ironic was the priority of this administration. Yes, small business loans and tax relief are needed in the area but as seen by the coverage on Studio B, there are still people living outside in the open air, some in their yards, some in tents. This is 4 months after the hurricane. When you think Mississippi you think it's warm, but it's been freezing (32 degrees) the past few days and expected to stay around that temperature in the following days. Some holiday, huh?
Time and time again in the program they talked about the people's depression and despair. While I'm sure the loans and tax relief will help eventually, right now what is needed is temporary housing for these people. The only person who asked why these people didn't have the temporary housing was Jane Skinner and she put it in a question to Smith. Smith said he had asked everyone he spoke to that exact question and no one had the answer for him.
It was strange that Studio B never went back to the president signing this piece of legislature. What happened? Why didn't they explain what happened? There was no urgent breaking news to prohibit them from going back to this signing ceremony. Perhaps the president had other things on his mind, like the fact that he has authorized spying on American citizens, which was never mentioned the entire show? Or perhaps he was embarrassed that people are still living without shelter in the elements (it's gone down to a freezing 32 degrees the past few nights in Mississippi) and he's signing another tax cuts bill?
