Having lived through Katrina and the aftermath, I understand the exasperation with government ignorance of disaster in its own borders (you may remember that "dubya" was also involved overseas during that time). Maybe someone needs to shout "from the river to the sea" to get some attention from the executive branch of the USG.

One thing I wonder is "what about state government"? The states have money too. If they "don't have excess money" then make it. Governors, that should be leasing their own private helicopters and supplies and sending them to disaster areas, can worry about the money later. Either the feds will bail them out or they can simply refuse to send federal taxes collected to the capitol until such time that the state coffers are replenished. People need to learnr that the federal government should come LAST in theior priorities, just as it arrives LAST when local needs arise.