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

ESTABLISHING THE SELECT BIPARTISAN COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE THE PREPARATION FOR AND RESPONSE TO HURRICANE KATRINA -- (House of Representatives - September 15, 2005)

Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 439, I call up the resolution (H. Res. 437) to establish the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina, and ask for its immediate consideration.

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Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from New York for the time.

The citizens of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama deserve nothing less than the citizens of New York and New Jersey and Connecticut, those in Pennsylvania and our own Pentagon who received an independent commission, one that was heralded for its results and for its independence and its ability to work together. It served as both healing the Nation and bringing people together.

The citizens of those States, the residents of the city of New Orleans deserve the same as the great City of New York. The citizens who were stranded in the Superdome or in the convention center deserve nothing less than what this Nation received with an independent commission.

The spouses of so many of our Members, who have not been recognized at all, deserve nothing less than to make sure the efforts that have gone on already and the answers that everybody seeks are provided by an independent commission, an independent commission blessed by both the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert) and the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), coming together in the way that we should as a country.

We all stand prepared to work together. The citizens of Louisiana and Mississippi and the great City of New Orleans deserve nothing less.

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