For some outside experts, who say preparation and planning are cornerstones for effective response and recovery in disasters, dividing the two functions and possibly reducing communications among officials responsible for them is a major problem.
The latest turn in Washington's attitude toward preparing for natural disasters is part of a pattern that dates back more than a decade.
For years, FEMA was a backwater agency -- until 1992, when complaints about its response to Hurricane Andrew led to sweeping reforms. FEMA was upgraded to a Cabinet-level agency and soon became a model for anticipating and responding to disasters, experts said. Then came Sept. 11, 2001.
The administration's approach to Gulf Coast infrastructure projects has also caused friction. The White House objected to congressional authorization of $1 billion in the recently passed energy bill to rebuild coastlines, which act as natural hurricane and flood buffers. The money was earmarked for six energy producing states, including Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
Repeated shortfalls in the Army Corps of Engineers' budgets over the last five years meant that the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, which covers the Jefferson, St. Tammany and Orleans parishes, left the project deeply underfunded.
Although the problem existed under the Clinton administration, critics say it got worse under Bush.
In 2005, for instance, the Army Corps of Engineers requested $78 million for the flood project. The president cut the request to $30 million and in the end, Congress approved $36.5 million.
"Of course as a delegation, we've voiced our concerns with the level of funding from the administration," said Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-La.). "This year we were $50 million short of what we thought we needed for hurricane protection."
