[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6835]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




BUSH ADMINISTRATION PUTTING INCOMPETENT CHERTOFF IN CHARGE OF AVIAN FLU

  (Mr. NADLER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, today President Bush is expected to announce 
his appointment of Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff to lead the 
administration's efforts to combat a potential avian flu epidemic.
  Didn't the President learn anything from Hurricane Katrina? Michael 
Chertoff is the same man responsible for the incompetent, inept and 
tragically unacceptable response to Hurricane Katrina. If Secretary 
Chertoff couldn't properly oversee the administration's response to a 
hurricane along the gulf coast that we knew about days in advance, how 
is he supposed to lead the response to a flu pandemic that could hit at 
any time?
  The Bush administration is already woefully unprepared to fight an 
avian flu pandemic. The President's own administration has warned that 
a worst-case scenario here in the U.S. would entail an 18-month-long 
crisis in which as many as 1.9 million Americans could be killed.
  An avian flu crisis needs a serious and competent administrator to 
oversee our response. The Bush administration is once again showing it 
will take a crony over a competent administrator every time. It is time 
for the administration to show that it actually can lead. It is time 
they turn away from the cronies and find someone competent for a change 
so the avian flu pandemic doesn't surprise us the way the expected 
Hurricane Katrina overwhelmed us.

                          ____________________