[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 118 (Friday, July 31, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H9210]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          KATRINA ANNIVERSARY

  (Mr. CAO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CAO. Mr. Speaker, August 29, 2009 will mark the fourth 
anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. As I prepare to return to the Second 
District, I am reflective not so much of the unprecedented damage that 
wreaked havoc on the innocent but of the power of the human spirit that 
was so evident in every citizen as they've returned to New Orleans to 
rebuild their homes and to jump-start their communities.
  I, too, lost everything in this storm. My wife and I, like so many 
others, were forced to start over after losing our home and business.
  As Katrina became the byword for our Nation's social ills and 
failures, many even questioned the logic of rebuilding, but one only 
has to look around New Orleans and Jefferson Parish today to completely 
dispute that line of reasoning. New Orleans and Jefferson Parish are 
reemerging as the productive areas they once were. Tourism is back on 
the rise, and entrepreneurs are returning to reintroduce commerce and 
to boost the job market. But there is still much work to do.
  The Stafford Act must be redesigned to bring a systemic means of 
Federal natural disaster assistance for State and local governments to 
aid citizens, and there must be a fundamental change in FEMA's approach 
to catastrophic disasters.

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