I'm not sure how this is supposed to help the rebuilding effort- would you want to work for less than you know you should be getting, especially if you knew your contractor boss was getting a fat check from the government that would add to their bottom line? Maybe this is part of the trickle- down-voodoo economics the neo-cons love so much, and that benefitted so many poor people in New Orleans so tremendously that they couldn't afford to evacuate before the storm.