30 Something Working Group
30 SOMETHING WORKING GROUP -- (House of Representatives - September 28, 2005)
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Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield. It gets worse. I was watching the hearings yesterday. FEMA's responsibility is to coordinate the response of the Federal Government in a natural disaster. They literally are the point agency, and all of the agencies in the Federal Government are basically brought under their direction. So what was Mr. Brown's response to, I think it was a question from the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Shays), about what he did to coordinate the disaster response. His answer was that he told the mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana that they should issue a mandatory evacuation, and they did not listen, according to him.
That was the sum total. That is what he kept repeating. That was the sum total of his response to the question of how did he coordinate the vast resources that FEMA has at their disposal and every agency in the Federal Government: that he picked up the phone and called two people and told them to evacuate New Orleans. Well, I do not know about you, but if I had at my disposal the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Energy, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the list goes on, I think that I could probably think of a couple more things to do besides make two phone calls.
This was the biggest natural disaster in American history and his response was to make two phone calls. Now, that may have something to do with the fact that his only previous experience was running the Arabian Horse Association, I do not know; but I would think even with a clean slate, and not knowing almost anything, not being an expert in disaster response at all, I would think I could do a little bit more than make two phone calls.
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Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. I do not know where to start here, I have so many things swirling through my head. The both of you have been here a couple of terms now, but I just got here. I am a freshman. I have been here all of 10 months. In January, like you did, but for me it was my first time so it was perhaps a little bit more sacred and special, because you know how it is when you do it your first time, you hold up your hand and swear to uphold the Constitution; and when you are doing that, you swear to uphold the integrity of this institution.
We have all served in legislative bodies. The gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan) served in Ohio, and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek) and I served in the House and Senate in Florida. One of the things that the staff who have been around a long time, one of the things they impress upon new members, they stress how critical it is that we uphold the integrity of the institution, that the perception of the institution, that each of us as individuals, we impact the perception in America of the American people's view of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Now there is a pall cast over this House. There is a pall cast over this House because it feels like almost every month since I have been here, there is another Member of this body being accused of something.
I recall 11 years ago, in fact, it was 11 years ago Monday, that the Republican Contract With America was issued in 1994. Part of that contract, from my recollection, had to do with the integrity of this House and how the Republican leadership talked then about how they were going to, and they were very sanctimonious about it, they were going to restore integrity to this institution and inspire confidence in the American people.
My constituents have a pretty significant difference in the way they define integrity. My kids are watching tonight. The 6-year-olds are awake, and they are watching and I have to go home and explain to them why this man is all over the news; and, Mommy, what did he do? I have to have that conversation, as do parents across this country, every other week.
The reason that is important is not just because we want to uphold the impression and integrity of this institution, let us bring it home here. It exemplifies why we need an independent commission. If there are Members' ethics called into question, how are the American people going to be able to expect and get an independent, objective investigation of what went wrong?
The example that the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek) just used is a good one. It would be like, to use the example of Enron executives saying Mr. Prosecutor, you do not have to do the investigation about what went wrong at Enron, our CEO and our executive board will take care of that; or Tyco.
Now we are doing that in this very House of Representatives, people who have been accused of wrongdoing, for whatever reason, not related to Hurricane Katrina, but we have got to make sure that this institution's integrity is upheld and maintained.
While you have people who are in the midst of their own personal situation, it is inappropriate, on top of the fact it was inappropriate to start with, to have a partisan select committee investigate the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, now it is underscored even more so because there are people's integrity called into question in this Chamber. We need to make sure that we can restore the American people's confidence in the direction that this country is going, in the job we are doing here, and without an independent investigation of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, we are not going to be able to do that.
I am hopeful in the coming years, I will be able to talk to my kids and tell them this is an institution in which they should be proud that their mom is serving and there are people who are serving in it who have the highest values.
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Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, listening to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan), I am thinking about all of the reasons I ran for Congress, and I decided that public service was a career choice for me, and that is because I want to make the world a better place. We all do. Certainly the three of us do. Our colleagues do. The vast majority of the Members here want to do that. It leaves such a bad taste.
What has happened over the last several months and what came down today with one of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, what came down a few weeks ago with another colleague on the other side of the aisle, the whole thing swirling around with Mr. Abramoff and the lobbyist, and we even had a gangland murder connected with that in my district in Hollywood, Florida, it is so pervasive, it is so disturbing, it gives me deep concern that people end up thinking that we are all just like those individuals who have strayed.
We have got to make sure that we can restore some confidence, we can go back to why we all ran in the first place and move this country in the right direction again. You have got cronies and phonies that are infiltrating the government. The culture of corruption that has become so pervasive here, not just in this body but at the executive level as well, it is worst than startling.
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Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Madam Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. MEEK of Florida. I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Madam Speaker, the thought occurs to me that people might be wondering why this even matters. I mean, so many times I talk to people and they say to me it is just the way politics is. They are going to reward their friends. They get into power and they are going to reward their friends, and that is just the way politics is.
And what I have to say to them, what we are trying to say to them, is that this culture of corruption is pervasive.
The culture of corruption is pervasive. It would disturb me deeply if it was just Members of Congress and we could say, there are some bad apples where people have gone astray and that is all it is. But it goes so much deeper than that with this administration, with the leadership on the other side.
This is how deep it goes: We have got cronyism and corruption that runs all the way up the ladder. I will just outline for you what I am talking about. Let us look at the appointments that have been made.
As recently has come to light, Mr. Brown was totally unqualified to be the director of FEMA.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. ``Brownie.''
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Brownie's previous experience was being head of the Arabian Horse Association. I saw him attempt to defend himself at the hearing the other day, and he outlined his vast array of experience being the assistant to a city manager, essentially a glorified intern. But, to me, I just feel like there needs to be a couple more lines on the resume when it comes to the man who directs the response of the Federal Government to natural disasters.
Let us take if it was just the Congress or just Michael Brown heading up FEMA where the cronyism stopped. Then I could say, you know, occasionally that is going to happen.
But let us look at the gentleman who was appointed as the Deputy Commissioner for Medical and Scientific Affairs at the Food and Drug Administration. The Food and Drug Administration is charged with assuring the safety of everything from new vaccines and dietary supplements to animal feed and hair dye. They are the one that approve medicines and say whether medication can go on the market.
So Mr. Scott Gottlieb was named the Deputy Commissioner, and he was 33-years-old. This is the 30-something Group, so we are not going to be critical of that. But this is a person who got his medical degree at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and his previous experience prior to taking this job at FDA, and they declared him a ``noted authority'' who had written ``more than 300 policy and medical articles,'' his biography neglects the fact that many of those articles that he wrote criticized the FDA for being too slow to approve new drugs and too quick to issue warning letters when it suspects one already on the market might be unsafe.
I think if you asked the family members and people whose loved ones died from taking Vioxx and some of the other inhibitors that people have had horrendous reactions and even deaths from because some of these drugs have been raced to the market too quickly before they have been fully vetted by the FDA, I think they might take issue with the fact that the person in charge of that is slightly less than qualified.
His previous experience before that was to be the editor of a popular Wall Street newsletter, the Forbes-Gottlieb Medical Technology Investor, in which he offered such tips as ``three biotech stocks to buy now.'' This is the deputy commissioner of the FDA in charge of medical and scientific affairs.
If it was just the FDA, if we were going to stop there and it did not go further than that, I might be able to write it off. But then let us go travel over to another agency. We have another agency, the Office of Management and Budget, in which an ex-lobbyist with minimal purchasing experience was overseeing $300 billion in spending, until his arrest last week. The person who was in charge of procurement for the Office of Management and Budget was responsible for $300 billion in spending until he got arrested.
So you can see where we go. You peel back layer after layer after layer. So we are not casting aspersions randomly here. We are not just being partisan. There is a culture of corruption that is pervasive, and, my god, we have an opportunity in the next 13 months to take our message to the American people and help tell them that we are going to come and restore their confidence; that we have got competence and we have got integrity and we know how to make sure we can expand access to health care.
Our priorities are straight. We know that the Federal Government can do something about gas prices, and not just have the President stand behind a podium and say, ``You know, if you don't have to drive, please don't.'' That is their conservation policy.
So before I go further than I should, I am going to turn it over to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan).
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