Heritage Foundation: Capitalizing on Hurricane Katrina

In the aftermath of the devastation caused in the U.S. by Hurricane Katrina, the Heritage Foundation sought to ensure that the reconstruction efforts would promote its preferred policy approaches.

In a column for Media Transparency, Bill Berkowitz, noted that "'just as the Iraq War has been a Petri Dish for the neoconservative foreign policy agenda, rebuilding the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina could prove to be the mother of all testing grounds for a passel of active Heritage Foundation's domestic policy initiatives."

"Drill the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, suspend environmental regulations including the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act, suspend prevailing wage labor laws, promote vouchers and school choice, repeal the estate tax and copiously fund faith-based organizations. These are just some of the recommendations a trio of hearty Heritage Foundation senior management officials are making to best facilitate the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast," he wrote.