Katrina Anniversary

Floor Speech

Katrina Anniversary

Mr. CAO. Mr. Speaker, August 29, 2009 will mark the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. As I prepare to return to the Second District, I am reflective not so much of the unprecedented damage that wreaked havoc on the innocent but of the power of the human spirit that was so evident in every citizen as they've returned to New Orleans to rebuild their homes and to jump-start their communities.

I, too, lost everything in this storm. My wife and I, like so many others, were forced to start over after losing our home and business.

As Katrina became the byword for our Nation's social ills and failures, many even questioned the logic of rebuilding, but one only has to look around New Orleans and Jefferson Parish today to completely dispute that line of reasoning. New Orleans and Jefferson Parish are reemerging as the productive areas they once were. Tourism is back on the rise, and entrepreneurs are returning to reintroduce commerce and to boost the job market. But there is still much work to do.

The Stafford Act must be redesigned to bring a systemic means of Federal natural disaster assistance for State and local governments to aid citizens, and there must be a fundamental change in FEMA's approach to catastrophic disasters.

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