Establishing the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Reposne to Hurricane Katrina
ESTABLISHING THE SELECT BIPARTISAN COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE THE PREPARATION FOR AND RESPONSE TO HURRICANE KATRINA -- (House of Representatives - September 15, 2005)
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Mr. MENENDEZ. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this partisan resolution that spits in the face of the American people's call for a robust inquiry that is independent of politics.
Yesterday's report by the 9/11 Commission provides data to back up what every American learned by watching the government's dismal response to Hurricane Katrina: that 4 years after 9/11, our Nation is still not prepared to respond to a major crisis, in this case a disaster that had been predicted, game-played in an exercise run by FEMA, and which we knew about 24 hours in advance.
As the relief and recovery process continues and the rebuilding process begins, the American public must have complete confidence that their government is up to the task. Unfortunately, the Republicans have chosen to play politics and flaunt the will of the American people by instead proposing a select committee that is not bipartisan, that will not have an equal number of Democrats and Republicans, and will not have bipartisan subpoena power.
Let us be honest. How can the American people trust this Congress to not only investigate this administration but also Congress itself? Because the actions of the Congress are definitely one of the things that needs to be investigated. The Republican Congress was responsible for cutting the budget of FEMA and the funding for the levees around New Orleans. An outside evaluation of Congress's actions is needed, not an internal review.
Can the American public all of a sudden expect the Congress to investigate this administration after 4 years of basically no congressional oversight? Yes, the rules of the House have been used to stifle honest, robust inquiry. This is the Republican Congress that has not conducted true oversight hearings into the decision to go to war in Iraq, the lack of a success strategy in Iraq, the outing of a CIA operative, among many others.
So we can stick our heads in the sand and pretend the government has handled the recovery well and basically do nothing, or we can appoint a truly independent commission to help avoid these mistakes in the future. The vast majority of the American public supports the establishment of an independent, bipartisan commission so that the inquiry focuses on the facts instead of getting bogged down in partisan politics.
That is why the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings) and I introduced legislation to establish an independent, bipartisan commission modeled after the successful 9/11 Commission to investigate the government's response to Hurricane Katrina and make recommendations for reforming the Nation's disaster response system.
The commission would be charged with evaluating what the government could have done to avoid the mistakes that exacerbated the crisis faced by hundreds of thousands of Americans along the gulf coast and caused untold loss of life. I mean, how is it possible, for example, that 4 years after September 11, our local first responders still do not have interoperable communications systems that can talk with each other as they carry out their lifesaving work? That is why the commission would have the full authority to question the government officials, examine government documents, and hold public hearings.
Finally, I want to remind my colleagues that despite overwhelming public support, it took months to overcome White House opposition and establish a 9/11 Commission, basically only getting the President and the Republican Congress to that point by dragging them along, kicking and screaming. We have heard all the same lame excuses we heard today as we did when we were trying to establish the 9/11 Commission.
Today, there is unanimous agreement that the commission had the courage to ask the tough questions that Congress did not and that developed reforms that, if implemented, would make our Nation safer. That is what we need to do. Let us create an independent commission. Let us not deceive the American people through this committee that will do absolutely nothing to get to the bottom of the problem.
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