[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 16]
[House]
[Pages 21776-21777]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  QUESTIONING OF THE RESPONSE TO HURRICANE KATRINA AND HURRICANE RITA

  (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask to remove my name from 
H.R. 3824 if the report has not yet been filed. If it has been filed, I 
would ask that it be placed in the Record that if the manager's 
amendment is not approved, I will be voting ``no'' on H.R. 3824.
  Let me say, Mr. Speaker, I also want to add to the questioning of the 
response dealing with Hurricane Katrina

[[Page 21777]]

and Hurricane Rita. I think it is imperative that committees of the 
House, particularly the Committee on Homeland Security, move forward 
with questioning how those who were in desperate need were responded to 
and how the chain of command performed.
  The question was always who was in charge. I raise the question as 
well, whether there was sensitivity or sensibilities in contracting 
with the cruise line, $246 million, to house individuals who had 
already been in water beyond belief. I would ask that that be 
investigated because those cruise ships are now sitting empty, and we 
are paying $1,000 a week for empty cruise ships.

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