9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act

9/11 RECOMMENDATIONS IMPLEMENTATION ACT -- (House of Representatives - October 08, 2004)

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 827 and rule XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for the further consideration of the bill, H.R. 10.

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Mr. ANDREWS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon) for offering this amendment. His wealth of experience on the front lines in the first responder community shows, once again; and I am honored to join with him in this amendment.

I thank the gentleman for his years of dedication to first responders in this country, long before Members talked about them on this floor.

The gentleman from Pennsylvania and I share a geographic area. Our districts are separated only by a river. If, God forbid, there were a terrorist attack, a mass crime, a natural disaster, his constituents and mine would be responsible for responding to it. We are proud of the fact that locally in our area there is cooperation. But the fact of the matter is cooperation now happens by accident, not by design; and our amendment is to change that. It requires that the director of FEMA do three things: first, that the director of FEMA catalog examples of cooperative agreements and compacts around the country.

Second, it requires that the FEMA director issue guidance on best practices, what is working. We are going to hear from the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) talk about the capital area plan that is working very, very well.

Thirdly, it requires an up-to-date accessible inventory of Federal resources that would be available. In the golden hour that takes place after such an attack or disaster, we do not have weeks or months to study a problem. The chiefs on the ground have to decide right there and then what to do. By making this resource available to them, I think we will save lives and minimize disaster. I thank the gentleman for offering this amendment, and I hope Members on both sides of the aisle will vote a resounding "yes."

Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. ANDREWS. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton), whose capital area response plan has set the model for how to go about this regional planning and serves as an example to others.

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Mr. ANDREWS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon) for his efforts. I also thank Mr. Dozor from the gentleman's staff, and Mr. Knotts from mine for their great effort.

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