[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 110 (Wednesday, September 7, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H7699-H7700]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            KATRINA RESPONSE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Dent). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Emanuel) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, in the past week all Americans, in fact, 
the whole world, has witnessed the devastation along our gulf coast. As 
a nation and as a Congress there are three ways to respond to this 
crisis: rebuilding, restoring, and retrospection.
  We must pinpoint the errors made prior to the storm and the flooding; 
develop an action plan on what needs to be done, ensuring these times 
of failures do not happen again to Americans; and focus on rebuilding 
the lives. And we will rebuild those lives. As many tomorrows as those 
folks along the coast need, every American will dedicate themselves to 
being there as they regather their lives, regather their loved ones, 
and regather their property. We will be there every step of the way. 
That is the most important message they need to know.
  Before we do anything, we need to dispense with the myths that we 
were not warned. Earlier this year, the New Orleans Times-Picayune ran 
a series of articles on the possibility of a Category 5 hurricane and 
what would happen to New Orleans.
  In December 2004, the Army Corps issued a report saying the levees 
needed to be raised. According to Newsweek, Senator Breaux from 
Louisiana personally discussed this issue with the President last year. 
So let us not kid ourselves. The warnings were there about where the 
weaknesses existed.
  Now, that is as it relates to the hurricane. We also have articles 
relating to, and reports just yesterday in the Wall Street Journal 
about, how, in fact, FEMA directors around the country reported up to 
the head of Homeland Security that, in fact, the way we were structured 
we could not handle a major crisis in the country, leading to a meeting 
in August with Director Chertoff because everybody was upset about what 
was happening to FEMA and the degradation of the operation.
  We need to be honest with the American people. They ultimately pay 
for this government. They need to know, and that is not going to be 
about pointing fingers or about blaming anybody, because you cannot fix 
a problem if you do not think you have a problem. And there are a lot 
of individual actions where people can be proud of people who have 
served, volunteered, or who have done heroic things beyond the call of 
duty. That is all good and that is the right thing and that needs to be 
supported.
  But we need to be honest with ourselves, and that does not mean 
pointing fingers for political gain. If FEMA was not up to snuff, it 
was not up to snuff. If the director of Homeland Security did not take 
the type of hands-on approach that was needed and people were concerned 
internally, we need to deal with that.
  Here we had a natural crisis. The Wall Street Journal noted the other

[[Page H7700]]

day about how this may be a boon to the terrorists. We need to improve 
our response to an emergency so this does not happen again to any 
American, anywhere, any time, because failure when it comes to an 
emergency is not an option. When lives are at stake, and this was the 
worst tragedy in America and lives could have been saved, we need to be 
honest with ourselves and the American people who pay the bills here, 
because they expect that type of service, and they should, from their 
government.
  Now, pointing fingers and attributing blame does little to put our 
country back together. On the other hand, acting Pollyanna, as if 
everything went according to plan, would be dangerous and foolish. 
Again, you cannot fix a problem if you do not think you have a problem. 
My colleagues, we have a problem.
  In times of crisis like this, the American people rightfully look to 
their government. This time, the government at all levels failed them. 
That is unacceptable. People should and will be held accountable. But 
today our utmost important task and this body's primary task should be 
putting the people's lives back together and building communities.
  Here are four things I think we can do immediately. First, anyone 
affected by this tragedy should be exempted from the recently enacted 
bankruptcy laws immediately. Many have lost everything, including their 
jobs. Expecting them to honor their obligations would be unrealistic 
and against the values of this country.
  Second, we need to make sure that all the children have universal 
health care and access to education, and we should provide these 
children and their families universal health care at least minimally 
for the next 18 months. We should also consider making community health 
care part of our emergency response on the part of FEMA, like any first 
responders. We must also make sure they do not miss a day of school by 
quickly enrolling them in new schools and providing those schools with 
the types of services they need.
  In addition to that, on education, every individual who is going to 
get either a GED, college education, postgraduate work, or job training 
should get a $3,000 voucher for their education.

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