Should the federal government play a larger role in responding to disasters? After Hurricane Katrina, some say it should.

But turning full responsibility for disaster response over to the feds is a "terrible idea," argue James Carafano and Richard Weitz.

With proper coordination and cooperative procedures in place, federalism is the best solution.

By building collaborations into a national response system and helping to train state and local disaster response trainers, Washington can boost grassroots response and overall preparedness. Increasing centralization, however, will waste tax dollars without making Americans any safer.

Read The Role of Federalism and the Importance of Grassroots Response by James Jay Carafano, Ph.D., and Richard Weitz, Ph.D.

In December 2004, President George W. Bush directed the National Security Council (NSC) and Homeland Security Council (HSC) jointly to prepare a National Strategy for Maritime Security. That made sense. Maritime security is vital to the defense of the nation, and no one federal agency bears all the responsibility for preventing, responding to, and recovering from hostile acts that might threaten America's security from the sea. However, the President should not stop there. The nation's air security faces similar challenges. The President should also direct the NSC and HSC jointly to develop a national strategy for air security.

Recent gains in spending are weighing down the federal budget and presenting a challenge to the House Members writing the FY 2007 budget resolution. Unless lawmakers confront runaway spending, within a decade just balancing the budget will require a $7,000-per-household tax increase. To avoid that end, a responsible budget resolution should freeze discretionary spending through 2011, get moving on entitlement reform, and extend the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts. Without a serious resolution, the House will be in a poor position to negotiate with the free-spending Senate, which has already passed a budget resolution that bursts the President’s spending limits.