Snow Sees US Cutting Budget Gap Despite Hurricane

I totally understand the aid the government is providing to individual citizens but I question the talk of aid for rebuilding businesses. I think the government (at all levels) could help most by drastically cutting taxes in the gulf region (as well as maintain the current rates for all Americans) and then step aside. I think you would see an explosiong of capital into that region and maybe at the same time a good lesson for America on the beauty of a free market economy.

HOUSTON (Reuters) - The rising costs of rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina are not likely to stand in the way of the Bush administration's budget deficit-cutting goals, U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said on Friday.

"While this will elevate spending levels for '06 -- primarily because that's when the major effects will hit -- we're going to stay on track with the president's deficit-reduction program," Snow told reporters after meeting with volunteers and evacuees in Houston's Reliant Center.

Snow and U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader Tom DeLay said spending on Katrina relief, which some estimate will top $100 billion, should not prevent Congress from extending expiring tax cuts.

"You can't attack the economy by taxing the people that are in this tent providing jobs," DeLay, a Texas Republican, told reporters in a facility housing job recruiters.

"If you raise the taxes on these people, you might not have the jobs to provide, so the tax cuts are incredibly important," DeLay said.