Tom Carper: “today I rise to discuss how we could be doing better in our response to Hurricane Katrina. I just spoke with one of…”

“today I rise to discuss how we could be doing better in our response to Hurricane Katrina. I just spoke with one of Louisiana's Senators coming over to the Chamber to speak, and the word that I heard with respect to the situation on the ground, particularly the response of FEMA to the ongoing crisis, was discouraging. We can do better. We have to be able to do better for the people there and for those who are footing the bill, the taxpayers. Hurricane Katrina was truly an unprecedented event. It was in all likelihood the worst natural disaster in our Nation's history. It was certainly the worst natural disaster I have witnessed in my lifetime. I can understand then that there might be some mistakes made, that there might not be easy solutions to some of the problems faced by millions of Americans directly affected by this storm. But I believe there are too many key areas where we have experienced clear failures that just cannot be shrugged off. We have all heard about the slow initial response to the storm. We have also heard about the no-bid contracts that probably weren't necessary. But I am going to speak for a few minutes today about a truly distressing failure that is leading to hardship among Katrina evacuees and is also wasting a lot of Federal taxpayer dollars. As my colleagues are aware, hundreds of thousands of gulf coast residents have seen their homes severely damaged. Too many have seen them completely destroyed.…”