Hurricane Katrina

Floor Speech

HURRICANE KATRINA -- (House of Representatives - September 07, 2005)

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, hurricanes may be natural disasters, but Hurricane Katrina has made it clear to anyone in the world with a television that who lives and who dies, who is left to suffer, who is left without the most basic necessities of life, who is left without medical care as a result of that disaster is very much related to who you are.

We have watched with horror and rapidly growing anger as Katrina came and went and left behind many, overwhelmingly poor, black, old, sick, to drown, to be stranded, to be herded into shelters under filthy, inhuman conditions, to be left in sweltering heat without water and food and to be cut off from health care. Why did it take aid and security so long to arrive?

We have received no answer.

Why were we so unprepared? We have received no answer.

What kind of shelters are planned without stockpiles of water and food as well as basic sanitation, medical personnel, and emergency power? We have received no answer.

Why did we not immediately press into service every able-bodied National Guard member? Why did we not immediately bring into service emergency teams from cities across the country? We have received no answer.

Why have we not moved to use unoccupied military barracks to house families left homeless by the storm? We have received no answer.

Where are the plans and the resources to stabilize the lives of hundreds of thousands with no homes, no jobs, no schools? We have received no answers.

Where are the plans and the resources to rebuild all that has been destroyed and to heal the families and communities left so devastated? We have received no answers.

When will we act to rein in the profiteering by big oil? We have received no answer.

How much can we do to lessen the impact of big storms by restoring natural buffers like wetlands, ending our disinvestment in infrastructure such as levees and acting to halt global warming? We have received no answer.

Ordinary Americans have responded without reservation. They have opened their hearts and their wallets. They have already given hundreds of millions of dollars. They have given of their time and their material possessions. Many have opened their homes.

We thank all of those who have contributed and we urge every household to find some way to join this great patriotic effort. Despite the sometimes heroic efforts of many frontline first responders, America's response to Katrina has been every bit as big a disaster as the storm itself.

It is government, especially the Federal Government, that has failed. ``Unacceptable'' is much too weak a term to describe that response to this disaster. It is time, it is past time, to put America's priorities straight and get them straight today.

I call upon the President to immediately mobilize adequate resources, medical supplies, personnel, security, transportation, and move those who are still in harm's way to safety. We call on the administration to present to Congress an emergency plan and a budget to address the needs of all those left homeless and jobless while their homes and communities are being rebuilt.

I call on the President to initiate an emergency public works program to rebuild America, to restore infrastructure, roads, bridges, water and sewers; and to mesh with private-sector insurance to rebuild every home, every small business.

We have a clear choice. We can use this as an opportunity to offer thousands, especially our young people, a chance to work to learn new skills from construction to nursing, or we can abandon tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands who have been uprooted and displaced, who have lost their material possessions, but each of whom is still a unique and irreplaceable person with untapped resources.

The President indicated that there is no limit to what we will spend in Iraq. I ask, how much will we spend in America?

I thank all of those in my immediate community, from the governor to the mayor to the president of our county board, all elected officials, churches, members of organizations and groups. I am proud to live in Chicago and in Illinois where we have opened our hearts and our wallets, and I simply ask that our Federal Government do the same.

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