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“KATRINA DISASTER” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H7664 on Sept. 6, 2005.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
KATRINA DISASTER
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentlewoman from Georgia (Ms. McKinney) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Ms. McKINNEY. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to join in the remarks of my colleague about the intensity of feeling that we have for the people of Louisiana and Mississippi and Alabama and, of course, Florida on the first stop of Hurricane Katrina and the situation that has unfolded literally before our very eyes.
I should also take a moment to commend the journalists who have facilitated us being able to see what has unfolded. Part of what has unfolded is sheer incompetence on the part of this administration, and the feelings that the people are experiencing result from the fact that we have an administration who let the American people down, who let the people in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida down, and just will not say We let you down. We made a mistake. They, instead, try to defend the indefensible.
Part of the late response comes from the fact that 40 percent of the Mississippi National Guard are in Iraq; 35 percent for those of Louisiana are in Iraq; 26 percent of the Florida National Guard are in Iraq; and 23 percent of the Alabama National Guard are in Iraq.
I have seen the interviews that have been done by Aaron Broussard of Jefferson Parish and Malik Rahim in New Orleans proper. Aaron Broussard said, ``We have been abandoned by our own country.'' Investigative journalists sent information to me that Customs' Blackhawk helicopter pilots were livid because they were not allowed to rescue people.
And then in the matter of attitude, and of course, I will be speaking more at length on this on Thursday in a 1-hour special order, but in attitude, FEMA Chief Michael Brown had the nerve to say, No one was clairvoyant enough to foresee this happening. But there have been studies, there have been articles, and this is his job to foresee this happening. I have got articles from National Geographic and Scientific American all saying exactly what happened and what we witnessed unfolding. And then he had the unmitigated gall to say that people must take some responsibility.
Well, Mr. Brown, you need to take responsibility.
And, Mr. Bush, you need to take responsibility.
The Times-Picayune has called for Mr. Brown's firing, and I have to say that they are absolutely correct. And I would just like to ask this administration to just admit that they messed up instead of appearing before the American people with all kinds of excuses about what they did and what they did not do, and we are not going to revisit the past, we are going to make sure we move forward or we look forward. There are a million people who have been affected by this, dispersed all over our country. The State of Georgia has received and is receiving thousands of them. The Fourth Congressional District is receiving as many of them as we can. The City of Atlanta has opened its arms to the victims of this administration.
With interest, I note, on the State Department Web site, that they provide us a clue as to when we are seeing misinformation, and what they tell us is that we are being misinformed when we are being told something that is clearly not true. What the administration has said to us tonight, in many instances, is clearly untrue.
And let me just say that it is unconscionable that the Secretary of Energy could stand before us tonight and say that he does not know how to bring down gas prices, which was the original reason that I asked for this 5 minutes tonight.
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