OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Statement on the Second Emergency Supplemental for Hurricane Katrina

Date: Sept. 8, 2005
Location: Washington DC
Issues: National Security


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, September 8, 2005

Statement of the Hon. Rosa L. DeLauro
Second Emergency Supplemental for Hurricane Katrina

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (Conn.-3) today issued the following statement on the $51.8 billion Congress passed today for the Hurricane Katrina relief effort. DeLauro had planned to support an amendment to the bill to restructure the Federal Emergency Management Agency in light of the agency's recent failures. The amendment was not granted a vote.

"As we speak, rescue personnel from across the country are continuing the relief effort while ordinary citizens in cities throughout America are volunteering and giving. They are taking in those who have lost everything. Heroism is winning out. And the funding in this underlying bill will help ensure that it continues to.

"But as we work to get this relief effort right, Congress should recognize how we got to this point. That starts with understanding what this Administration has done to FEMA.

"Last year, former director of FEMA James Lee Witt told us, and I quote - "Scientists tell us that we are going to be seeing more catastrophic natural disaster events in the 21st Century then we've ever seen...And yet we have destroyed the one agency that not only responds to those events, but also works with state and local governments to do pre-disaster mitigation prevention before that risk could ever happen, to minimize that risk."

"As long as our nation gazes upon the devastation in this once-vibrant city of New Orleans, it will remain a symbol of this Administration's misplaced priorities - its misplaced values. The Obey Amendment would have gone a long way toward restoring FEMA to the efficient, non-political agency it was during emergencies like the Oklahoma City bombings in the 1990's. In doing so, we would ensure that never again in the face of a national disaster will the Federal government and the agency responsible for emergency relief fail to act or fail to lead. We owe the victims of Katrina and the heroes of this rescue effort nothing less."

http://www.house.gov/delauro/press/2005/September/second_supp_09_08_05.html

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