Dear Editor,

During the recent special legislative session, the Legislatureand the governor allowed Gulf Coast casinos to come on land, gavefinancial backing to SteelCorr, a manufacturing plant in Columbus,and provided financial assistance to small businesses, cities,counties, school districts and other political subdivisions thatwere damaged by Hurricane Katrina. The one group that was left outwas those people whose homes were damaged or destroyed in thestorm. It wasn’t because those of us in the House didn’t try.

The House of Representatives passed a program that would haveprovided grants equal to the lesser of $25,000 or one-half of thedamage to those who lost their homes. But there were those whoargued that we were premature and who wanted us to wait until thefederal government acts, and the bill died. It has now been morethan six weeks since the storm, and the federal government has yetto provide any assistance to homeowners. Worse, there is noprospect that they will.