Providing for Consideration, Establishing the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina

PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H. RES. 437, ESTABLISHING THE SELECT BIPARTISAN COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE THE PREPARATION FOR AND RESPONSE TO HURRICANE KATRINA -- (House of Representatives - September 15, 2005)

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Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member, the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Slaughter), for yielding me this time and commend the members of the Committee on Rules for their important work on this subject, particularly the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings) who is the author of the legislation, along with the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez), the chairman of our caucus, on legislation which will bring truth to this situation, an independent commission, modeled after 9/11, respected by the American people.

Following the tragedy of 9/11, the American people expected and deserved the truth. People of New York and New Jersey were strong advocates for such a commission. The people in Louisiana and Mississippi and the gulf region are displaced. They are trying to put their lives back together. They have lost their homes, their jobs, their livelihoods, their communities. They really do not have time to lobby Congress for an independent commission.

But our country is grateful to the 9/11 families because they not only gave us that commission to review that terrible tragedy that befell our country, they gave us a tradition of transparency and finding the truth and holding people accountable and hoping to do so in a way that prevents future loss of life.

We endanger the American people when we ignore the truth. So on behalf of the people in the region, I plead with my colleagues in this body to reject any sham committee. Supposedly bipartisan; not so. Supposedly bicameral; not so. One thing we know, it is a vehicle to whitewash, to whitewash, and not have a true look into what went wrong.

There was a natural disaster, a terrible natural disaster in the gulf coast States. It was compounded by a manmade disaster because the Federal response of FEMA fell so very, very short. And FEMA, now its Director has resigned, but FEMA is fraught with problems systemically throughout it.

That does not mean that many, many people who work for FEMA and many people, our first responders, police and fire, health care providers in the area and volunteers from every walk of life did not rise to the occasion. They certainly did, and we commend them for the sacrifice they were willing to make to rescue others in the time of the immediate recovery. But there are so many unanswered questions; and instead of having a sham, why can we not have a real commission to look into this?

So the choice on the floor today, we have heard all of this discussion over and over. The fact is that we should be spending our time figuring out how we are going to help the people of the region rebuild their communities, to create jobs, to educate their children, to rid themselves of the toxic, literally toxic, environment, and that is the situation that they are in there. Instead, we are wasting the public's time on a subject that is unworthy of this tragedy, and it did not have to be.

I certainly respect the congressional role of oversight. We have called for it over and over again, whether it was the war in Iraq or the price gouging at the pump of gasoline for America's consumers, whether it is Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo. Name it. There are so many subjects that this Congress has been delinquent in its duty in doing oversight. So I fully support congressional oversight by the committees of jurisdiction.

In order to expedite help to the region, I suggested to the Speaker that we have a truly bipartisan committee that could streamline how we would go forward. At the time, I intended it just to be on the positive side, and that was early, when Katrina was just hitting, and then when we saw things go wrong, we added the charge that we would see what went wrong. So the idea of this Congress having a role in terms of oversight in a bipartisan special committee is one that I supported. I suggested it.

But what the Republicans came back with was really a slap in the face to the people who were affected in the region. We owe them the truth. Why is this Congress afraid of the truth? Over and over again, Iraq, name it, price at the pump, why is this Congress afraid of the truth? Sometimes it is really important, as we try to find our common ground, we stand our ground where we cannot find that common ground, but we always have to come down in favor of the people, to yield on points. Because we are here to get a job done. Maybe not exactly the way we would want to get it done, but get a job done. So now, today, the Republicans are putting up an obstacle to doing just that.

So I urge my colleagues to honor the sacrifice, the situation, that has affected the people in the region by at least telling them the truth and vote against this committee today, to vote against this committee, to say come back to the drawing board when they want to have honesty in what we are doing. But, first and foremost, we must have a truly independent commission, again, in the manner of the 9/11 Commission that took testimony, that issued a report, that gave transparency and openness to the process and gave some level of truth to the American people.

Because the people in the gulf States, many of them affected are poor and economically disadvantaged and not as sophisticated, perhaps, as some of the people stricken with grief in the New York/New Jersey area at the time of 9/11, and in Pennsylvania and in the Pentagon. Because these people are of a different economic status and because they are living in shelters and the rest and not really able to speak for themselves to the Congress of the United States, we, the House Democrats, will speak for them in asking for the truth and appealing to our Republican colleagues for us to work together in a completely nonpartisan way to help meet their needs.

I know that some Members have visited the region, certainly those affected. The gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Taylor) spoke with such eloquence on the floor yesterday. Senator Landrieu, in the Senate last week, brought the Nation to tears with her presentation on what she saw in her beloved State of Louisiana. And the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Jefferson) has told us firsthand of what he has seen there. The gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson), our ranking member on the Committee on Homeland Security, spoke from authority in standing on the committee but experience as a Mississippian. They know because they see firsthand.

I could only see secondhand, joining the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee), the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Al Green), the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gene Green), going to Houston to meet with the victims of Katrina in the Astrodome and also in the George R. Brown Convention Center. We saw children, little children, adorable little babies that we could hold in our arms, and 90-year-old great grannies, all of them, not the little babies, they did not speak for themselves, but their older siblings said, ``We want to go home.''

They praised the hospitality, the warmth, the generosity of the people of Houston. And they are to be commended. As I said when I was in Houston, I do not know of any city in America that could have risen to the occasion so quickly and so compassionately as Houston. Mayor White, Judge Eckels, the Commissioner of Harris County; Representative Noriega, so many people in the community came together to help the victims of Katrina. But still, with all of the respect that they extended to their guests, with all the health care, with all the care and feeding, still, of course, there is no place like home.

So let us find out how we can bring these people home. And a good way to have them come home and have confidence in the future that, should another hurricane strike, and we know that it will, that the precautions will have been taken, the accountability will be assigned, and that the people will be protected. We can do that by finding the truth. We can find the truth with the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings), the gentleman from New Jersey's (Mr. Menendez) commission, Senator Clinton leading the way in the Senate on this important issue, and we can do it by rejecting this committee.

I stand open and welcome to any cooperation with the Republicans when the Speaker is ready to cooperate on true bipartisanship, true openness, and true accountability to the American people.

With that, I just close again to say that our hopes and prayers are always with the people of the region. It is our resolve that they will be made whole as soon as possible, and that has to be a bipartisan commitment.

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