Black Businesses See No Katrina Contracts.

The Government Accountability Office has been asked to investigate if minority-owned businesses were given an opportunity to compete for reconstruction contracts in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Representative Donald Manzullo (R-IL) called for the investigation last Tuesday. FEMA has awarded $1.6 billion in reconstruction contracts to rebuild along the Gulf Coast, but less than 2% of those contracts have gone to minority-owned businesses, despite that the region has the highest rate of minority-owned businesses in the nation.