Date: 2006-02-16
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. as I said in my 1minute and I want to repeat. because so many Members and people from all over the country went to the great celebration of the life of Coretta Scott King. her words: "Struggle is a never ending process. Freedom is never really won. You earn it and you win it in every generation." And clearly we have a failure in this generation. If you would take a look. as President Carter said. at the faces of the Katrina victims: the faces of the poor. old. black and white. poor. infrastructure not in place. Thousands of people died because of the inefficient government. The report that was released. "A Failure of Initiative." was released by the House Select Committee on Katrina. which criticized the poor preparation for the response to The sad thing is that it continues to fail the Hurricane Katrina. We all know that victims of the storm still today. the slow response to Hurricane Katrina_ Along with my colleagues in the Congresled to mass destruction in the gulf re- sional Black Caucus. we are urging the Bush gion. particularly in New Orleans. The administration to support our hurricane relief loss of lives. the loss of homes. But bill. H.R. 4197. a bill that if passed into law. those were just a few problems which would be a great first step towards the recovwere revealed. But the sad fact is that ery and restoration of the gulf coast region. those conditions exist today. Six GENERAL MESSAGE POINTS FOR CBC PRESS months later those conditions still CONFERENCE exist. Thequestion I ask now is Wheth- The House Select Committee Report on er the Bush administration is prepared Katrina. "A Failure of Initiative." is a today for a disaster of any proportion. scathing indictment of the incompetence of man made or natural disaster. the actions of the Bush Administration and manemae or nut taturaldiste B the federal government. There is no question that the Bush Unfortunately. almost six months after administration failed in its response to Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast Hurricane Katrina. The sad. thing is. region. the incompetence of the Bush Adminand I want to repeat. that it continues istration continues everyday to the detto fail the victims of the 9torm today. ritnent of the 1.5 million people who were I am calling on the peoples House. The displaced. Natural disasters will continue to occur Congressional Black Caucus leadership and we are not prepared to handle them. has put together a comprehensive bill. Manmade disasters may happen unexpectH.R. 4197. a bill that would lead to the edly. and we clearly are not prepared to hanrecovery of the gulf coast region for dle them either. the scope of Hurricane Katrinas mas- The Congressional Black Caucus has been sive devastation. some of the points active legislatively and we have been in regmade in the committees report and ular contact with the people of the Gulf one that we made today in our pre.ss Coast region. We are in the planning stages confrence mof scheduling another visit to the region and conference. holding a hearing in Washington around our This devastation stands -today. 6 legislation and related topics. We will also months later. The region of New Orle- be holding the people in decisionmaking poans looks like 9 hurricane disaster. sitions. like the President. Secretary bombedout area.It sends a serious in- Chertoff. the FEMA director. the Secretary dictment that we can spend $6 billion a of Housing and Urban Development and the month in Iraq. and yet we cannot solve Congressional leadership in the House and the problems right here at home. Senate accountable for their actions. Where is the leadership in this WASHINGTON. DCWith respect to the House? Where is the leadership in the House Select Committee Report on Hurriother body? And where is the leader- cane Katrina. Congresswoman Corrine Brown ship in the Bush administration? And I made the following statement: am starting with the top. the Presi- I would like to begin with a quote from dent. George W. Bush. Coretta Scott King: "Struggle is a never endAnd I thank God that when we had ing process. Freedom is never really won. our disasters in Florida that we had You earn it and win it in every generation." My colleagues and I in the Congressional another administration that we worked Black Caucus. the Hispaxic Caucus. and the with. the Clinton administration. I did Asian Caucus. were utterly disappointed not deal with the FEMA that was upon reading the report. "A Failure of Iniinept. Because we have had fires in tiative." which was released by the House Florida. we have had tornadoes in Flor- Select Committee on Katrina. and criticizes ida. we have had hurricane after hurri- the poor preparation and response to the cane in Florida. but we dealt with a hurricane. We all know that the slow response to Hur different administration. an adminis- ricane Katrina led to the massive destructration that was willing to come to the tion of the Gulf Coast r6gion. particularly community. that one piece of paper. if New Orleans. The numerous warnings. inadit was not fillel out. we were able to equate planning and apathy in preparing the get services. And how do you get that region for the scope of Hurricane Katrinas piece of paper? Well. we controlled that massive devastation.are some of the points piece of paper. made in the Committees report. Unfortunately. the governments botched God help us. God help America. And response has ruined the lives of millions of will the people in the peoples House Americans. who are now forced to go without speak up for the people in the gulf re- the most basic human needs. In the report. gion. The Select Committee identified failures at (1) The failure of a complete evacuation of all levels of government which led to the deNew Orleans. struction of the region. (2) Levees protecting New Orleans were not built for the most severe hurricanes. leading to The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a a breach in the system. previous order of the House. the gen(3) The collapse of local law enforcement tleffan from North Carolina (Mr. and lack of effective public communications JONES) is recognized for 5 minutes. led to civil unrest and further delayed relief. (Mr. JONES of North Carolina adThese are just a few of the problems which dressed the House. His remarks will apreveal that the government was not ade- pear hereafter in the Extensions of Requately prepared for a disaster of this propor- marks.) tion. The question that I ask now is whether the government is prepared today for a disaster of any proportion. manmade or natural. SIMPLIFIED USA TAX There is no question the Bush administra- Mr. ENGLISH of Pennsylvania. Mr. tion failed in its response to Hurricane Katrina. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent to claim the time of the gentleman from North Carolina .