Blue Dog Coalition

Floor Speech

BLUE DOG COALITION

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Mr. BERRY. I thank the gentleman from south Arkansas, and I certainly appreciate his leadership in this matter.

I would also encourage everyone that can hear my voice to keep in our hearts and minds and certainly in your prayers our men and women in uniform, especially those on the battlefield this evening. Reach out to them and their families and let them know that you understand and appreciate the sacrifice and commitment they make out of the goodness of their hearts.

My esteemed colleague from south Arkansas is absolutely correct. We have these horrible tornados almost every year in Arkansas. We had two in the First Congressional District that I am privileged to represent last year. We have had as many as a hundred in one day all across Arkansas.

I have served in this Congress since 1997, and from 1997 to January of 2001 we had a director of FEMA that remains distinguished to this day and always will. His name was James Lee Witt. He knew how to run an agency. He didn't make excuses. When a tornado hit, you didn't have to call FEMA, you didn't have to call the director, you didn't have to call anybody. They would just show up, Johnny-on-the-spot. They knew what they were doing. They were trained. They could make decisions. They helped people start putting their lives together. They helped communities and local governments clean up the mess. They provided the necessary financing to get the economy going again. They worked with the public schools to get them repaired and back in order.

Today, FEMA is a worse disaster than the storms. If they show up at all, which they haven't in Desha County, and my colleague, Mr. Ross, is absolutely right, I just live right across the river from Desha County, it is part of my home. Today, if they show up at all, it is for a photo op. I saw this past Saturday on CNN, FEMA has a new truck, a communications truck. They were so proud. They were explaining that this communications truck, and I would love to know how much it cost, was the secret to their success because they were going to be able to use that truck to take pictures and broadcast them back to FEMA headquarters and they would get the same information they could have gotten from CNN 3 hours ago. All of this would be hysterically funny if it was not so tragic.

This is not a funding issue. It is just a simple matter of incompetence from the top to the bottom. This administration simply does not know how to run a government agency.

I have not talked to Mr. Paulison. I have talked to him on previous occasions, and he defines the word ``bureaucrat,'' which is a sad thing to have to say about anyone. It is the job of the Congress to hold these people accountable.

I have had conversations with Secretary Chertoff. And he assures me that these trailers that are down in Hope, we are going to take care of those. This was over a year ago. He appeared before the Appropriations Committee and explained that in just a few months these were all going to be moved out and everything was going to be wonderful. They are just sitting down there going to ruin. Nobody is using them. But they wouldn't let the victims of tornados in my district last year use them. They won't let the good people of Desha County use them this year. This just doesn't make any sense.

It is the job of the Congress, and that is the reason my colleagues and I are here this evening, to begin the process to hold these incompetent bureaucrats accountable for the terrible way they are running this agency. For crying out loud, if you can't do anything else, give us a ``no'' answer. Tell us something. Don't just let it stay out there and twist in the wind.

I can tell you this: You don't have to be all broke out in brilliance to look at these pictures or drive through that community and know a terrible disaster took place, and they are deserving of the help of the Federal Government. What a sad thing it is to go from an agency and a government only 6 years ago that would come to the aid of the people when a disaster happened, to this horrible mess that we call FEMA today that is so incompetent all they can do is spend money where it doesn't help the

people. It is time that they at least appeared before this Congress and make some kind of a pathetic explanation as to why they are operating the way they are at this time. And let's hope that by some stroke the administration and the White House, who is ultimately in charge, will at least have the credibility and feel responsible enough to get control of that agency, because we know there will be more disasters that will happen to the American people, and we are going to need help from our Federal Government.

We cannot continue to operate this way. What a sad thing it is to see this agency and the way they treat people who have had their lives destroyed, their jobs destroyed, their homes destroyed, and yet they are not even deemed worthy by the director of FEMA or the Secretary of Homeland Security of a little bit of help and a little bit of recognition by the Federal Government so they can get some help on their own.

And can you imagine, if the Secretary of Homeland Security can't see that FEMA works, can you imagine the mess that the rest of Homeland Security is in? What a terrifying thought that these people are in charge of anything, but certainly in charge of our homeland security and in charge of the very Federal agency that is charged with bringing assistance and helping the people when these tragedies take place.

I would join my colleague in recognizing tragedies that took place in Alabama and Georgia and the loss of life and how terrible that was, and we hope they get treated better. They certainly deserve to be treated well. They deserve all the help it is possible to give them at this time.

Let's hope that we are not back here in 2 weeks to hear stories from Alabama and Georgia about how, well, FEMA came and they had their picture made with us and they gave us a big hug, and then they left and nothing happened. They deserve better. And let's hope that they get better. We also deserve to have help for the people in Desha County in south Arkansas in the First Congressional District. They deserve to be treated better, also.

And, Mr. Speaker, I can tell you that my colleague, Mr. Ross, will not rest, nor will the Arkansas delegation, nor will the Governor of the State of Arkansas rest until we see the recovery taking place and the wonderful community of Dumas, Arkansas, begin to be restored and the economy begins to prosper again, and the people begin to put their lives back together.

I thank my colleague for his leadership, and I will yield back.

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