Date: 2005-09-07
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. what we are witnessing in Louisiana and in Mississippi right now is the complete meltdown of the Federal Government. and in particular. the Department of Homeland Security. Given that the Federal Government cant even dole out adequate .assistance to this one area of the country during this tragedy. how can U.S. citizens feel safe at a time when we are faced with the threat of a terrorist attack on a national level? What I find truly amazing is that the disaster planners have said that a direct hurricane strike on New Orleans is one of the top 3 catastrophic scenarios facing our Nation. So how is it that the agencies have been so slow to respond to this crisis. olaiming to have been caught off guard? The President himself said that the levee breach was not anticipated... how can that possibly be true? In addition. while the Superdome has long been considered as the citys main hurricane refuge spot. no supplies were stocked there before the storm hit on Monday. It is simply incomprehensible to me how Federal officials had not deployed equipment and relief supplies before Katrina struck land. or even bothered to mobilize in the region beforehand? This lack of response is outright shameful. an outrage. and an embarrassment! This is one more example of the complete failure of the Federal Government under the Republican led administration. Since 9/11. the Republican led Congress has given natural disaster preparedness secondary status in the Federal budget. undermining the effectiveness of FEMA. and has cut funding for the Army Corps floor control projects in and around New Orleans. and throughout the Nation. In the post 9/11 reorganization. FEMA joined 21 other agencies to form the new Homeland Security Department. and was stripped of the Cabinet rank that had allowed it to report directly to the President. Later. in a further department shuffle back in July. FEMA lost its mission of working with State and .local governments on preparedness plans even before a disaster hits. FEMA used to be a very powerful organization. with veteran staffers. that is. up until the Bush administration threw everything together into one huge department. ironically labeling it "Homeland Security." What the new department should have been called is the "Department of Insecurity!" . And now. as many here in Washington and around the country have been urging for the agency to have its independence restored. the Republican Congress has just taken away people and money. as well as power and authority from FEMA. doing away with our national security while doling out tax cuts for the rich. This agency. which in the past has given out hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to State and local responders. has now lost the ability to do so. leaving grant giving in the hands of the overextended Homeland Security Department. Moreover. the Bush administration has canceled other FEMA programs. including a Clinton administrationera disaster mitigation effort known as Project Impact. And whats more. at a time in our history when homeland security experts are calling for a greater emphasis on preparing for calamity. Michael Brown. FEMAs current director. has faced years of funding cuts. personnel departures and the downgrading of the department. And of course. worse yet. Michael Brown himself is a mere political appointee. who obtained his current position because of his close friendship with Joe M. AIlbaugh. who managed President Bushs 2000 presidential campaign. I think many would agree with me that for a position as important as this one. past experience in emergency management is crucial. One other terrible decision made previously in the administration was the transferring of the Coast Guard to the Department of Homeland Security. Let us remember that the Coast Guard was the first agency to respond to the terrorist attacks on September 11th. Within minutes after the attacks. their ships were guarding our bridges and waterways. In closing. it is clear that we really need to evaluate our countrys ability to handle national disasters. It is simply unacceptable for the Federal Government to wait until there are bodies floating down rivers to begin activating the National Guard! Again. I would have hoped that FEMA would have had a contingency plan in the case of a major hurricane hitting the Gulf Coast. Yet obviously. they did not.