Hearing Of The House Subcommittee On Economic Development, Public Buildings, And Emergency Management Of The House Committee On Transportation And Infrastructure - "Final Breakthrough On The Billion Dollar Katrina Infrastructure Logjam: How Is It Working?

Hearing Of The House Subcommittee On Economic Development, Public Buildings, And Emergency Management Of The House Committee On Transportation And Infrastructure - "Final Breakthrough On The Billion Dollar Katrina Infrastructure Logjam: How Is It Working?"

Today, the Subcommittee will receive an update on community and
infrastructure recovery through the Public Assistance program implemented by the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the aftermath of Hurricanes
Katrina and Rita. It is unfortunate that more than four years after these devastating
storms, we are still talking about how we can improve recovery efforts.
Previously, when our Nation faced large or unusual disasters, FEMA was quick
to adapt and provide solutions to unique problems that would arise, often working
with Congress on those solutions.
After Hurricane Katrina, things were very different. FEMA was an agency
within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and not an independent agency
that reported directly to the President and Congress. As I have said previously,
FEMA's performance as an agency has suffered since its inclusion in the Department
of Homeland Security in 2003.
Even long after the response to Hurricane Katrina, the agency's placement in
DHS had a detrimental effect on the residents of the Gulf Coast. There were delays
in decision making, which meant that delivery of critical assistance to citizens was
delayed. I am still deeply concerned that, even with the new leadership at FEMA, if
FEMA remains in DHS it will not be able to respond to disasters in the manner the
Nation needs and expects.
Hurricane Katrina proved to be the costliest natural disaster in American
history. The storm had a massive physical impact on the land, affecting 90,000 square
miles, which is an area the size of Great Britain, and hundreds of thousands of
citizens. We will hear today from Craig Taffaro, Parish President of St. Bernard
Parish. I was in St. Bernard Parish shortly after the storm and saw the impact first
hand. I was astounded to see homes that did not have water marks to indicate the
level of flooding; because the flood waters had reached levels above their roofs.
We will also hear testimony that things are improving. There is new leadership
at FEMA, and they are bringing solutions to lingering problems. Unfortunately, this
is years too late as the last Administration refused to bring common sense solutions to
problems, or in many instances, acknowledge that there were problems in recovery
efforts. All of the recovery steps that we will hear about today, are items that FEMA
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had the authority to implement four years ago, but was unable to do because of DHS
bureaucracy.
While things may be improving, it should not stop us from trying to improve
them further. Recently, I have had discussions with other Members of this
Committee as to whether additional authority should be provided to FEMA to help
facilitate the recovery from these storms. A good place to start may be H.R. 3247, the
"Hurricanes Katrina and Rita Recovery Facilitation Act of 2007", which passed the
House in October 2007. H.R. 3247 provides for a higher Federal contribution for
alternate projects from the current level of 75 percent to 90 percent, increases the size
of projects that can move forward on the basis of estimates, from $55,000 to $100,000
and for arbitration methods. While we could not get the Other Body to move that
legislation in the last Congress, it may be possible to move a similar, more streamlined
bill, in this Congress if such legislation might still prove constructive. We intend to
inquire with our witnesses today their views on this subject.
I also hope what we hear today can serve as a lesson for future disasters, so that
if the country is ever faced with such catastrophic storms again, we will not wait four
years for common sense solutions to be implemented.
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I welcome our witnesses and I am pleased that we will examine these important
issues today.
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