'Operation offset'

New Orleans | The bill for rebuilding New Orleans will be big, and the default position of Congress is just to add it to the national debt. But some in Congress are looking for another way to cover the cost | Timothy Lamer

Americans responded to Hurricane Katrina's devastation by reaching into their pockets and giving to charity. America's government seems to be responding by reaching into the pockets of American children.

At least that's what some conservatives on Capitol Hill were saying last week as they mounted what they are calling "Operation Offset." Their goal is to keep the costs for the enormous post-Katrina recovery effort from simply being added to the national debt. Instead, they are finding places in the federal budget where Congress could cut spending to pay for a bill that has already reached $62 billion and may run as high as $200 billion to $300 billion.

It's an uphill effort, but the practice of offsetting emergency costs with spending cuts is not unprecedented. In 1994, after an earthquake in Los Angeles, President Clinton and a Democratic Congress cut spending to offset recovery costs. The next year, a GOP Congress managed to find spending cuts after the Oklahoma City bombing.