[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 20175]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       HURRICANE KATRINA TRAGEDY

  (Mr. MORAN of Virginia asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, many people responded admirably 
and effectively in New Orleans and throughout the Gulf Coast. But the 
fact is that a natural disaster was turned into a human travesty 
because of incompetence, disorganization, and misplaced priorities.
  And the answer does not lie in the firing of Michael Brown. It has 
been apparent to many who have watched what has happened within the 
Department of Homeland Security that FEMA has been unvalued within this 
administration, and as a result became a dumping ground for political 
hacks.
  The fact is that 75 percent of FEMA's money has had to go to 
terrorism-related situations, such as paying overtime for TSA airport 
screeners, which means that preparation for the possibility of flooding 
in New Orleans or an earthquake in San Francisco get very low priority.
  In fact, we are not even preparing adequately now for an earthquake 
in San Francisco when two out of three of FEMA's highest priorities 
have already occurred with New York and New Orleans.
  Mr. Speaker, another natural tragedy cannot be allowed to become 
another human travesty. We have to get into the guts of this 
organization, weed out the incompetents and fund it adequately and 
appropriately.

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