On This Somber Anniversary, We Remember the Lives Lost and Rededicate Ourselves to Help Those Who Survived

On This Somber Anniversary, We Remember the Lives Lost and Rededicate Ourselves to Help Those Who Survived

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today, on the eve of the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Pelosi joins 24 of her House Democratic Caucus colleagues in the Gulf Coast this week.

"One year ago, Hurricane Katrina made landfall, causing the tragedy, and exposing another. One year later, neither the tragedy Katrina caused - the flooding of New Orleans and the devastation of the Gulf Coast; nor the tragedy that it exposed - the extent of the federal government's failure to provide a life of security and dignity to all of our citizens - have been adequately addressed. Hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens still await the help in rebuilding their hospitals, schools, businesses, and homes that was promised last fall.

"Throughout America, today must be a day of prayer, grief, and introspection. Though it is long past due, today is the day for a new direction in the Gulf Coast, where despair and destruction are finally replaced by hope and renewal. In that vein, members of the Congressional Democratic Caucus are in the Gulf Coast this week to renew our commitment to rebuilding communities.

"On this somber anniversary, we remember the lives lost and we rededicate ourselves to help those who survived. We must recover the sense of urgency and common purpose that Katrina evoked and we must answer, finally, the challenge it placed upon our national conscience."

http://democraticleader.house.gov/press/releases.cfm?pressReleaseID=1755