Helping All of Hurricane Katrina Victims

HELPING ALL OF HURRICANE KATRINA VICTIMS -- (House of Representatives - September 22, 2005)

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz) is recognized for 5 minutes.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, I, like many Americans, am watching and praying that Hurricane Rita does not cause the same level of death and destruction as past Category 4 and 5 hurricanes like Andrew and Katrina.

Watching the death and destruction wrought by Katrina was truly heart-wrenching. What was even more unnerving was watching as many desperate victims stranded on their rooftops and surrounded by rising flood waters wrote makeshift signs begging for help. All they wanted was to be rescued and to have access to food and water. Those images have been stamped into the hearts and minds of Americans and people all over the world, and we must remind the administration that we will never forget.

How pretentious of our government to assume that everyone in the gulf coast region had the means to pick up at a moment's notice and hop in their cars and get on the highway towards safety. We must be aware of the ramifications of poverty in America and recognize that it is a real condition that many Americans face each and every day.

We cannot turn a blind aye to those trapped in a dismal socio-economic predicament that this administration's tax cuts for the wealthy and cuts in social programs have only exacerbated. Obviously, an investigation into the slow response by FEMA is warranted, an accurate, unbiased, independent investigation, not one that will be led by the President's own domestic security advisor or a partisan committee that was formed here in this Congress.

Does that make you feel confident that the inquiry into this administration's performance in response to Katrina will be fair and accurate?

Only a fool would allow the very people who botched the rescue efforts to be the ones to go back and determine what went wrong, what went right, and what lessons we have learned from this tragedy.

People have died because of the inaction by their government. That much we certainly know is true. Now we must move forward with an investigation that is independent and one with subpoena power so that we can avoid the mistakes of Katrina. People have died, and we need to find out why. I know that if we do an investigation in name only, then people will die again, and they will continue to lack confidence in their government's ability to help them in their time of need. People will die in Florida. People will die in Texas. People will die in States throughout the hurricane region if we do not learn from the lessons of Katrina and ensure that our failures are not repeated.

I also want to remind people that people in Florida were victims of Hurricane Katrina as well. Hurricane Katrina's first victim was Florida as it struck Broward and Miami-Dade counties as a Category 1 storm on August 25, leaving hundreds of damaged or destroyed homes and nearly 11,000 individuals seeking assistance.

These are the people that FEMA has decided do not need help. This woman here is standing in water up to her knees. Her cars are damaged. They are late model cars, not fancy ones; and they are the result of Hurricane Katrina hitting Florida. This is representative of what FEMA has denied individual assistance and denied help to.

FEMA's response to this woman and to the woman standing among the remains of her house is that ``you are on your own.''

What was FEMA's response to all the families in Florida's requests for help? It is the same as it was to the people in New Orleans who died the first days that Katrina struck here: ``you are on your own.''

Last night we learned that Florida's appeal to FEMA to help our victims of Katrina in Florida was denied once again. My question for FEMA is, hurricanes do not know State boundaries, so why does FEMA?

Florida has been hit by six hurricanes over the past year and a half. Six. It is a constant plague that the residents of Florida deal with every single year, and the denial of aid to those in need is irresponsible and unconscionable. I introduced legislation this month that calls on FEMA to provide the much-needed assets to the residents of Florida who are victims of Katrina. And I plead with my colleagues in Congress, do not turn your backs on the first victims of Katrina. Help those in need regardless of State line.

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