[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19446]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              WAKE-UP CALL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Wexler) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WEXLER. Mr. Speaker, like all Americans, my heart goes out to the 
millions of people displaced and suffering from one of our largest 
national catastrophes in our history. I hope the victims of Hurricane 
Katrina know that our prayers are with them in this most difficult 
hour, and I strongly support today's initial package to help the 
victims of Hurricane Katrina.
  However, the administration's response to this catastrophe is nothing 
short of a national disgrace itself. How is it possible, how is it 
possible that the administration did not realize earlier what a 
catastrophe this is? There is a 90,000 square-mile footprint of 
disaster, and yet last night FEMA's director, Michael Brown, admitted 
that the administration had no idea exactly how bad the situation was. 
Even worse, he had previously characterized the security situation in 
New Orleans as ``pretty darn good,'' and stopped just short of blaming 
the residents of New Orleans themselves for not evacuating.
  The Bush administration failed the American people in advance of this 
hurricane by cutting critical funding in spite of the pleas by the Army 
Corps of Engineers, money that would have been used to reinforce the 
very levees that broke and flooded New Orleans.
  We had plenty of money to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest 
Americans, but none apparently to save the poorest Americans with an 
ounce of prevention.
  In terms of the response to the disaster itself, what we have seen is 
unquestionably too little too late. While the President today said 
relief efforts so far were ``not acceptable,'' how can he possibly be 
surprised by this deplorable response? How can he say that flooding was 
not anticipated? Quite to the contrary, it was expected. It was 
predicted. What is not acceptable is the President's response.
  Mr. Speaker, 1 year ago we had an opportunity to learn from the 
disasters in my home State of Florida. Floridians experienced the 
consequences of FEMA's failure to deliver aid to communities who needed 
it the most. We saw the most vulnerable in our society, the elderly and 
the poor, being left out and overlooked. Last year we had the 
opportunity to prevent this from happening again. At the time I called 
for the resignation of the head of FEMA, Michael Brown, because of his 
grievous mismanagement in Florida. The President did not heed that 
call, nor did he see fit to make any substantial changes in FEMA.
  Last year when the President's election was in question, his response 
to the hurricanes in the swing State of Florida was tremendously fast, 
even passing out ice in the immediate aftermath. Where was he in the 
immediate aftermath in New Orleans? Where were the trucks of food, 
where were the water buffalo? Where were the tents of aid that are just 
now being established and delivered?
  When the issue was the medical condition of Terry Schiavo, the 
President and the Congress flew back to Washington on Palm Sunday to 
intervene.
  Why did the President delay so long for an entire American city in 
crisis? These have desperate people who need food, water, shelter and 
safety, not a photo opportunity, which even itself comes 5 days too 
late.
  Every asset of the great American military in this hemisphere should 
have been devoted to America's humanitarian crisis starting on Monday 
at 5 in the afternoon.
  I was in Aceh in Indonesia last month. I saw firsthand the greatness 
of the American aid efforts. Our response in the aftermath of the 
tsunami was one of America's finest hours. I was extremely proud as an 
American to see all the work that Americans and our country have done 
to stave off famine and disease for tens of thousands of desperate 
people.
  Our aircraft carrier was off the Aceh coast within 2 days. If we can 
do that 12,000 miles away in Indonesia, why not in New Orleans? If we 
had even met that same standard, help would have been in New Orleans on 
Wednesday. We would not be seeing the horrific scenes we saw yesterday 
and today. It should have been self-evident on Monday that now is the 
time to use our enormous strength for the benefit of our own people.
  Mr. Speaker, now is a wake-up call for America. This should never 
happen again. It should not have happened this time.

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