After the hurricanes, it's raining money

IT IS ONE OF THE secrets of the Beltway: Washington loves disasters. With large-scale disasters, government expands, its friends get wealthy and citizens become as docile as kittens. That is why Congress calls it "disaster relief" -- the relief is from the usual restrictions on revenue spending and individual responsibility.

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are like dinner gongs for Beltway lobbyists, who are lining up for the windfall of tens of billions of dollars. Even before Katrina finished plowing through the South, special interests moved to plow under restrictions on competitive bidding. The principal protection against sweetheart deals for administration friends is the requirement that large federal contracts must be awarded on the basis of competitive bidding. The administration's chief procurement official, David Safavian, pushed a provision in a disaster bill to increase the number of contracts that Congress could award on a noncompetitive basis. Safavian was in a hurry: The week his provision became law, he was indicted for allegedly lying to investigators in a different controversy.

Safavian has resigned, but hundreds of noncompetitive contracts live on in his name. More than 80% of the $1.5 billion in FEMA contracts were awarded without competitive bidding. Even the inspector general of the Homeland Security Department has said he is "very apprehensive" about how the administration is handing out contracts.

In the meantime, members of Congress are demanding billions from the Treasury over and above the billions in charity and the $62.3 billion already appropriated for disaster relief. The Louisiana delegation alone is asking for the equivalent of $50,000 for every person in New Orleans. This reportedly includes $40 billion in projects for the Army Corps of Engineers -- 16 times the amount that the Corps says is necessary to protect New Orleans.

The usual players are circling. Halliburton, with ties to Vice President Dick Cheney and other high-level officials in the administration, has already received a contract related to Katrina. Another company, AshBritt, with ties to Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, was handed a $568-million deal.