2A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, September 29, 2005 NATION/WORLD Gulf leaders rally for coverage Bush administration blocking health care support for evacuees WASHINGTON (AP) - With Gulf Coast governors pressing for action, Senate Finance Committee members complained yesterday that the Bush administration is blocking a bipartisan $9 billion health care package for hundreds of thousands of evacuees from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. "We've got people with needs today," Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said. She was joined by Mis- sissippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Ala- bama Gov. Bob Riley, who testified via a teleconference hookup, in urg- ing quick action on the legislation. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-lowa), chairman of the committee, said four or five senators have been block- ing action on the bill after the Bush administration raised objections to provisions thfat would extend Medic- aid coverage to thousands upon thou- sands of adults who otherwise would be uninsured, including those whose applications have been rejected in Louisiana. "We can work with everybody, including the administration, or against them, and I'm prepared to go either way," said Sen. Trent Lott (R- Miss.) "But I'm going to look after our people first." Administration officials contend the Medicaid extensions are not needed because a newly created fund could be tapped whenever health care providers care for uninsured victims of Katrina between Aug. 24 and Jan. 31, 2006. The administration has not revealed how much money will be in the fund, and senators questioned both the funding commitment and whether the administration has the authority to establish such a fund. Earlier yesterday, Blanco asked the committee for help in rebuilding her devastated state, saying Hurricanes Katrina and Rita "knocked us down but they did not knock us out." Indicted DeLay steps down as majority leader NEWS IN BRIEF HADLINE FRMAONIH OL 2L.7 W U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas) talks with reporters on Capitol Hill after resigning as House Majority Leader following his indictment by a Texas grand jury on conspiracy charges yesterday. law, which prohibits the use of corpo- rate donations to advocate the election or defeat of political candidates. Pros- ecutors say the alleged scheme worked in a roundabout way, with the dona- tions going to a DeLay-founded politi- cal committee, then to the Republican National Committee and eventually to GOP candidates in Texas. The indictment stems from a plan DeLay helped set in motion in 2001 to help Republicans win control of the Texas House in the 2002 elections for the first time since Reconstruction. Indicted with DeLay were two of his associates, John Colyandro, former executive director of a Texas political action committee formed by DeLay, and Jim Ellis, who heads DeLay's national political committee. The grand jury's foreman, William Gibson, told The Associated Press that Earle didn't pressure members one way or the other. "Ronnie Earle didn't indict him. The grand jury indicted him," Gibson told The Associated Press in an interview at his home. Gibson, 76, a retired sheriff's deputy in Austin, said of DeLay: "He's prob- ably doing a good job. I don't have anything against him. Just something happened." The Texas Republican temporarily stepped down from the No. 2 leader- ship post that he had held since 2002, as required by House rules. Blunt said he was confident DeLay would be cleared of the allegations and return to his leadership job. Criminal conspiracy is a state felony punishable by six months to two years in a state jail and a fine of up to $10,000. At the White House, press secretary Scott McClellan said the president still considered DeLay - a fellow Texan - a friend and an effective leader in Congress. "Congressman DeLay is a good ally, a leader who we have worked closely with to get things done for the Ameri- can people," McClellan said. "I think the president's view is that we need to let the legal process work." The indictment puts the Republi- cans - who control the White House, Senate and House - on the defensive.' Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R- Tenn.) also is fending off questions of ethical improprieties. And less than a week ago, a former White House offi- cial was arrested in the investigation of Jack Abramoff, a high-powered lobbyist and fundraiser. WASHINGTON FEMA was warned early of shortages Former FEMA director Michael Brown was warned weeks before Hurricane Katrina hit that his agency's backlogged computer systems could delay supplies and put personnel at risk during an emergency, according to an audit released yes- terday. An internal review of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's informa- tion-sharing system shows it was overwhelmed during the 2004 hurricane season. The audit was released a day after Brown vehemently defended FEMA for the government's dismal response to Katrina, instead blaming state and local officials for poor planning and chaos during the Aug. 29 storm and subsequent flooding. The review by Homeland Security Department acting Inspector General Rich- ard L. Skinner examined FEMA's response to four major hurricanes and a tropi- cal storm that hit Florida and the Gulf Coast in August and September 2004. It noted FEMA's mission during.disasters as rapid response and coordinating efforts among federal, state and local authorities. KABUL, Afghanistan Suicide attack kills 9 soldiers, wounds 28 A uniformed man on a motorbike detonated a bomb yesterday outside an Afghan army training center where soldiers were waiting to take buses home, killing nine people and wounding 28 in a rare suicide attack. The blast broke 10 days of relative calm after landmark parliamentary elections and underscored the terrorist threat still facing Afghanistan as it slowly moves toward democracy. It also added to fears that insurgents here are copying tactics used in Iraq. A purported Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility and threatened more sui- cide attacks on U.S. and Afghan forces. His account of the bombing differed from those of witnesses, however, and his claims could not immediately be verified. Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammed Zaher Azimi said authorities had yet to identify the bomber but blamed "international terrorists." He did not elaborate. President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack in "the strongest terms" as he ordered authorities to investigate. BAGHDAD Country's first female suicide bomber kills 6 A woman disguised in a man's robes and headdress slipped into a line of army recruits yesterday and detonated explosives strapped to her body, killing at least six recruits and wounding 35 - the first known suicide attack by a woman in Iraq's insurgency. The attack in Tal Afar near the Syrian border appeared aimed at showing that militants could still strike in a town where U.S. and Iraqi offensives drove out insurgents only two weeks ago. A female suicide bomber may have been chosen because she could get through checkpoints - at which women are rarely searched - then don her disguise to join the line of men, Iraqi officials said. WASHINGTON Bush warns of upsurge of violence in Iraq President Bush warned yesterday that there will be an upsurge in violence in Iraq before next month's voting, but said the terrorists will fail. "Our troops are ready for them," he said. Bush's remarks in the Rose Garden came a day after Iraqi and U.S. forces announced they had killed Abdullah Abu Azzam, the No. 2 al-Qaida leader in Iraq, during a weekend raid in Baghdad. "This guy's a brutal killer," Bush said. Al-Qaida in Iraq issued an Internet statement denying that Abu Azzam was its deputy leader, calling him "one of al-Qaida's many soldiers" and "the leader of one its battalions operating in Baghdad." Republicans pick party whip to fill vacancy; other reps will help with duties WASHINGTON (AP) - A Texas grand jury indicted Rep. Tom DeLay and two political associates on charges of conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme, forcing the House major- ity leader to temporarily relinquish his post. A defiant DeLay insisted he was innocent and called the prosecutor a "partisan fanatic." "I have done nothing wrong. ... I am innocent," DeLay told a Capitol Hill news conference during which he criticized the Texas prosecutor, Ron- nie Earle, repeatedly. DeLay said the charges amounted to "one of the weak- est and most baseless indictments in American history." In Austin, Earle told reporters, "Our job is to prosecute abuses of power and to bring those abuses to the public." He has noted previously that he has pros- ecuted many Democrats in the past. Republicans at the Capitol selected Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) the current Republican whip - No. 3 in the lead- ership ranks - to fill the vacancy temporarily. Reps. David Dreier of California, the chairman of the House Rules Commit- tee, and Eric Cantor of Virginia, the chief deputy whip, will assist Blunt with some of the majority leader duties. Republicans expressed their backing for DeLay, the first House leader to be indicted in office in at least a century. "He will fight this and we give him our utmost support," said Speaker Den- nis Hastert of Illinois following a pri- vate GOP meeting. DeLay said he was certain the indict- ment would be dismissed and shrugged off the charges as a "political witch hunt" designed to drive a wedge in the Republican ranks. "If the Democrats think we're going to go crawl in a hole and not accomplish our agenda, I wish they could have been a fly on the wall" of the closed-door meeting, DeLay said after the session. The indictment accused DeLay, 58, of a conspiracy to violate Texas election - Compiled from Daily wire reports CORRECTIONS A story in Wednesday's edition of the Daily misstated Stephen Rapundalo's title. Rapundalo is the Democratic candidate for City Council in the second ward, not a City Council member. 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