Democrats' Cause Is Tempered by Political Realities

Pelosi likes to say that elections have consequences. That was abundantly clear when Financial Services' housing subcommittee held its first hearing on the Katrina bill in a packed New Orleans auditorium.

The five Democratic congressmen in attendance included one Latino and four African Americans, among them the embattled William J. Jefferson (D-La.), who is not a member of the panel but received a special invitation. Before the election, Pelosi had yanked Jefferson off the Ways and Means Committee when FBI agents found $90,000 in cash in his freezer; after the election, she put him on the Homeland Security Committee to ride herd on FEMA. In an interview in early March, Jefferson said he had met with Pelosi three times in the preceding six weeks to discuss Hurricane Katrina.

Holding the gavel at the hearing was the fiery Waters, who is probably best known for blaming the crack epidemic on the CIA. "I want to tell you all how lucky we are to have Maxine chairing this committee!" Jefferson declared.

"We're in Mr. Jefferson's home town -- can't forget that!" Waters replied.

But the hearing was no partisan set piece; Waters and her panel grilled Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D) and New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin (D) as relentlessly as they had grilled Bush administration officials. Waters asked Blanco blistering questions about Louisiana's troubled "Road Home" program and pressured her to get rid of its contractor.

"Donald Trump, baby!" one tenant shouted in approval. "Bring 'em to the boardroom and fire 'em!"

Waters also picked apart a Nagin aide who insisted -- despite a chorus of angry jeers -- that most displaced residents did not want to return. Under her prodding, the aide acknowledged that he had no idea what most displaced residents wanted and had no plan to get them into decent homes. "We need to work on that," he said.

At the same time, Waters pledged to reverse several Bush administration policies. When local officials complained about the requirement that local jurisdictions pay 10 percent of the cost of some FEMA projects -- a requirement that was waived after 1992's Hurricane Andrew and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks -- Waters promised that the Democratic Congress would waive it. When state officials complained that FEMA red tape was holding up $1.2 billion, Waters promised to free up the cash.

Waters is still a firebrand -- she's a leader of the Out of Iraq caucus -- but in New Orleans, she repeatedly praised the two Republican members of the subcommittee who were at the hearing, Judy Biggert (Ill.) and Randy Neugebauer (Tex.). She shushed the crowd when it booed Neugebauer's suggestion that it might make sense to demolish housing projects damaged during Katrina.

"I've found she's delightful to work with," Biggert, the ranking minority member of the subcommittee, said later. "It's been very different than I expected."

The most contentious issue at the hearing was the Bush administration's plan to tear down several huge low-income projects and redevelop them as mixed-income developments. Many low-income renters believe "redevelopment" means "gentrification," and in New Orleans, previous redevelopments have reduced low-income housing. So Waters called for a moratorium on demolition until displaced residents could return to participate in the planning.

"Can we all agree that everyone who wants to come back should be allowed to come back?" she asked.