Postcards: Katrina`s Aftermath

Katrina`s Aftermath
9/9/2005

Dear Friends,

The Congress came back into session on Tuesday and it was a busy week.

Tuesday night, the Cabinet -- pretty much all of them -- came to the House floor and spent 3 hours briefing us and answering questions about Katrina, its aftermath, and the way forward.

We had hearings on Medicaid and I had several lengthy discussions with my colleagues on delaying any changes that would reduce the rate of growth of Medicaid until we assess the impact of Katrina.

Roadrunner Food Bank
Heather thanked the Roadrunner Food Bank & took part in the effort to provide packages of food and basics for those evacuees who are in Albuquerque.

We had a hearing on the impact of Katrina on energy and gasoline prices and I started drafting a bill on gasoline gouging during emergencies.

During the energy hearing, Governor Haley Barbour testified by video link up from Mississippi. It's good to hear more than just the sound bite from the news from a guy in the thick of it. One of the astounding things was how they have restored power. When the electric power goes out the pumps don't work for water or for gasoline at gas stations, food spoils, people's radios and TVs don't work, hospitals run on generators and worry about getting more diesel to run them. Getting power back is always a priority.

Mississippi lost every transmission line 150 miles deep from the coast and had 2 power plants damaged. Within 9 days, they had restored almost all electric power. How? 7,000 linemen and tree cutters from around America and Canada descended on Mississippi and worked around the clock to clear debris and restore power.

There will be a lot of lessons learned from this disaster. I don't have much patience for public figures who point fingers during major emergencies. I'm of the shut-up-and-start-bailing school of thought. But I do believe in rigorous "kitchen sink" sessions after the party is over.

But lesson one is so obvious and so much a part of our character as Americans that we don't even notice it. One of the greatest strength of America is the initiative, inventiveness and goodness of its people. We pitch in. We figure it out. We call our buddies, throw our gear in the truck and go fix power lines. We do things without being told to do things. Call friends, make contacts and solve problems.

There are a million little examples of that over the last 12 days. As we continue to recover, that great strength will still be with us.

Wish you were here,

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