Two key U.S. senators will open a bipartisan investigation into what they described as an "immense failure" of the government response to the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), who heads the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), the panel's top Democrat, said they plan to begin an oversight investigation Wednesday.
"We intend to demand answers as to how this immense failure occurred, but our immediate focus must and will be on what Congress can do to help the rescue and emergency operations that are ongoing," the senators said in a joint Sept. 2 statement.
"It is also our responsibility to investigate the lack of preparedness and inadequate response to this terrible storm," they said. "(I)t is increasingly clear that serious shortcomings in preparedness and response have hampered relief efforts at a critical time."
The Senators have scheduled an initial briefing by Department of Homeland Security officials for Committee Members and Senators from affected states on Sept. 7. The briefing will be closed to the media, but the Senators will schedule a press availability after the briefing.
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The statment came after Bush faced blistering criticism for his administration's response to Katrina.
"This is a national disgrace," Terry Ebbert, head of New Orleans' emergency operations, told MSNBC. "We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims but we can't bail out the city of New Orleans."
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Bush, who has been criticized for a slow response to the disaster, admitted yesterday morning that "the results are not acceptable" and pledged to bolster relief efforts.
"We'll get on top of this situation," Bush said, "and we're going to help the people that need help."
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This article first appeared at Journalists Against Bush's B.S.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - 1Potato
The quotes don't mention Bush, that's just something you stuck in. The state and local governments have the primary responsibility of preparing itself for natural disasters like this.
And then you have this quote:
"The statment came after Bush faced blistering criticism for his administration's response to Katrina."
Blistering criticism from the left, that is. The right and (hopefully) the middle see his leadership, just as he showed on 9-11(oh yea, that was all to distract from the fact that he conspired with the 9-11 terrorists).
It is typical for the left to lie, and then refer to the lies as facts, over and over again, until people forget to question the original source.
And then this: "We can send massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims but we can't bail out the city of New Orleans."
Obviously this man is frustrated and overwhelmed. But come on, we didn't bail out the the Asian tsunami victims: thousands died. We couldn't save all of them and we can't save everyone here. Bush is sending the military in to help, but G-d forbid he they shoot a looter and the left will go nuts.
"Journalists against Bush's B.S." Sounds like really mature, professional journalists belong to that site.
2 - David R. Mark
You can find quotes from Massachusetts Governor Romney (a Republican) and Connecticut Governor Rell (a Republican) criticizing Bush.
Collins, mentioned in this article, is a Republican.
So the statement that the blistering criticism is only coming from the left is incorrect.
3 - David R. Mark
Also, 1Potato, you may want to reference this article before you continue on the conservative talking point that state and local officials "have the primary responsibility of preparing itself for natural disasters like this."
4 - Anthony GRande
I think we should investigate the DemocRATic Governor of Louisiana and the DemocRATic Mayor of New Orleans. They live there. If there were any pre Hurricane problems they would or should have known about it.
5 - Marc
I'm all for it, lets have an investigation.
Also See page 18, paragraph 2 a 3.And lets start with the Southeast Louisiana evac plan, (PDF file so here is the relevant part.) page 13, paragraph 5 states:
See page 21, paragraph c 4.
See page 29, all of it.
Who may you ask is in charge of this program?
Why it just happens to be the very same Terry Ebbert, head of New Orleans' emergency operations who is ranting about sending "massive amounts of aid to tsunami victims but we can't bail out the city of New Orleans."
You may also note this photo that contains at least 200 city owned school buses. All with water up to the roof that were never used to move people out of New Orleans even AFTER a mandatory evacuation was called Sunday.
And btw the over 300 municipal buses wern't used, they are also under water.
So someone 'splain it to me if the city and State had this plan, one written in 2000, why wasn't it followed?
I doubt if Ebberts or the Mayor will ever give a satifactory answer, they are to busy pushing blame on the Federal government.
6 - David R. Mark
I would recommend you all check out comment 3.
7 - RogerMDillion
Editorials from around the country on Friday -- including at the Bush-friendly Dallas Morning News and The Washington Times -- have, by and large, offered harsh criticism of the official and military response to the disaster in the Gulf Coast.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001054151
8 - 1Potato
I didn't say the criticism is "only" from the left. Nevertheless, there hundreds of Republican government officials, so if 95% of republicans think Bush is doing a fine job in this crisis, it's still easy to find a few dissenters. As for Romney, many think he wants to run for President, so maybe he is starting his triangulation.
In addition, I doubt their criticism is blistering. If it is, I would like to see it. I am sure it is at worst a mild rebuke, and more likely a subtle suggestion of doubt. Kerry used this tactic in the debates. He kept naming generals that agreed with him about the war in Iraq; but he failed to mention that the military has many generals and most disagreed with him.
As for the link, I am not convinced it is the federal governments responsibility. We have a war going on (Afghanistan, if you don't like Iraq) and homeland security issues. Why can't Lousianna fix it's own levee and damns? And if they couldn't, why didn't they at least provide better evacuation and emergency plans for the city? It didn't seem that they had a plan at all. The damage is one thing, but the mass chaos certainly speaks to that deficiency, not the feds.
9 - David R. Mark
You said: "Blistering criticism from the left, that is."
Doesn't that imply "only"?
10 - David R. Mark
"Why can't Lousianna fix it's own levee and damns?"
They put up $50M. It's a poor state.
A better question might have been, "Why did Bush feel it was ok to divert money from a project, when it was only 2/3rds complete?"
11 - Marc
1potato
They did have a plan as I linked to above. Those sunken buses were to take those unable to get out to the Superdome and then out of the city if needed.
Never happened did it? They had a 5 year old plan and never used it. Didn't even try.
12 - Dave Nalle
Another finely spun title, David. In fact, they didn't say anything about specifically investigating Bush. But don't let truth stand in the way of your crusade.
Dave
13 - Marc
David R. Mark
Here let my trumo your "comment number 3."
The 17th strret levee was repaired and it failed in a upgraded section.
14 - Ronald Eakins
Bush could not be more responsible for the deaths in New Orleans if he had taken a gun and shot the victims of this tragedy. He took the money that was to go to repair the levees so he could murder more Iraq citizens. After all what is more important levees to protect American lives or Halliburtan profits.
15 - David R. Mark
Dave Nalle, the Senators are focusing on the federal response -- they plan to interview DHS officials on Wednesday. That certainly justifies use of Bush in the headline.
16 - David R. Mark
Dave, I edited the headline to make it more clear. I realize that using "Bush" could be misconstrued as an investigation into the man, rather than the administration he runs.
17 - David R. Mark
And (sorry for the multiple posts), I see that I actually had "Bush Administration) in the headline on my blog -- so I'm thinking I screwed up when re-writing the headline here.
18 - David R. Mark
Marc, the article you link to only strengthens the argument that federal cuts left the Army Corps of Engineers unable to complete its project, begun in 1995.
19 - Dave Nalle
A freudian slip, perhaps, David.
BTW, their actual statement says not one word about investigating administration failures as your title and article suggest.
They are gong to investigate lack of preparedness and make no specific suggestion of who they think is at fault.
Which is as it should be. At least they haven't prejudged the administration and gotten out the rope the way you have done - yet again.
Dave
20 - David R. Mark
They are focusing on the federal response. They are being briefed by the DHS. They are talking about "immense failures" and "inadequate response."
Do you need them to draw you a map?
21 - Dave Nalle
Sure doesn't say that in the statement you linked to, David. The federal role is strictly limited in this type of situation, and if they aren't looking at the other parties involved then they aren't doing a complete job.
Dave
22 - David R. Mark
Another Republican critical of the Bush response: Newt Gingrich.
You can find the story here
23 - Dave Nalle
Damn, what are they feeding Newt. He keeps making too much sense.
Dave
24 - David R. Mark
Dave Nalle:
The statement includes: "While it is too early to reach conclusions on the response of government to this catastrophe, it is increasingly clear that serious shortcomings in preparedness and response have hampered relief efforts at a critical time."
So, they aren't drawing a conclusion, but they are certainly leaning a certain way. If you don't think they are referring to the Bush Administration, fine. I think they are. We'll find out next week.
25 - David R. Mark
More Republican criticism of the administration's handling of Katrina:
Sen. John Kyl, an Arizona Republican, said the federal response suggested flaws in the nation’s preparedness for another terrorist assault. “This damage could just as easily have been caused by a terrorist attack, and many if not most of the same elements are involved in responding to natural disasters,” Kyl said.
“There has to be a plan in place " along with adequate resources " to be able to evacuate people, or at least provide relief supplies before panic sets in. None of this appears to have been done in Louisiana.”