The report, entitled “Promises Made, Promises Broken: The Bush Administration’s Record on Rebuilding the Gulf Coast,” was released to coincide with President Bush’s tenth visit to the Gulf Coast, and exposes the Administration’s missteps and mismanagement that have undermined the recovery efforts.

“Photo ops will not rebuild the Gulf Coast,” said Senator Kerry. “We need to demand that promises are kept so that New Orleans can come back stronger than before and families can come home. Six months ago, President Bush pledged to ‘do what it takes.’ Today marks the tenth time President Bush is visiting the Gulf Coast to say help is on the way. The help is overdue. Nearly 120,000 Gulf Coast residents are still in limbo waiting to even find out if they will get a disaster loan and more than 140,000 others have been turned away by the Bush administration. We’re insisting on accountability. If the Republican Congress won’t do it, we’ll do it for them. Our report today shines a light on a tragic pattern of mismanagement, mistakes and avoidance of real solutions for rebuilding the Gulf Coast. Enough excuses. It’s overdue to give people the help they deserve.

“Today Senator Landrieu and I are releasing a report on the Bush Administration’s mismanagement, mistakes and obstruction of real solutions for rebuilding the Gulf Coast in hopes we can get on the right track and give people the help they deserve,” Kerry added.

The report describes the Administration’s efforts to block key recovery legislation, disregard for local request for bridge loan funds, mismanagement of the Small Business Administration’s disaster loan program money, minimal oversight of federal contract awards, and painfully slow loan processing.

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