Ex-New Orleans mayor calls for compensation fund for Katrina victims News
Ex-New Orleans mayor calls for compensation fund for Katrina victims

[JURIST] Former New Orleans mayor and current President and CEO of the National Urban League [advocacy website] Marc Morial [official profile] has called for a Hurricane Katrina [JURIST news archive] victim's compensation fund, similar to the one created in the wake of the 9/11 attacks [Wikipedia backgrounder]. Speaking at the University of Pennsylvania Monday, Morial also called [press release] for a "Victims Bill of Rights," asking Congress to pass legislation to ensure disaster unemployment assistance for those who have lost their jobs and the protection of voting rights for the displaced. He also recommended the creation of a bipartisan commission to investigate the "miserably failed response" to the storm. In a statement [text] Tuesday, President Bush said that he took responsibility [AP report] "to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do its job right." AP has more.