Debbie Wasserman Schultz: “I, like many Americans, am watching and praying that Hurricane Rita does not cause the same level of death and…”

“I, like many Americans, am watching and praying that Hurricane Rita does not cause the same level of death and destruction as past Category 4 and 5 hurricanes like Andrew and Katrina. Watching the death and destruction wrought by Katrina was truly heart-wrenching. What was even more unnerving was watching as many desperate victims stranded on their rooftops and surrounded by rising flood waters wrote makeshift signs begging for help. All they wanted was to be rescued and to have access to food and water. Those images have been stamped into the hearts and minds of Americans and people all over the world, and we must remind the administration that we will never forget. How pretentious of our government to assume that everyone in the gulf coast region had the means to pick up at a moment's notice and hop in their cars and get on the highway towards safety. We must be aware of the ramifications of poverty in America and recognize that it is a real condition that many Americans face each and every day. We cannot turn a blind aye to those trapped in a dismal socio- economic predicament that this administration's tax cuts for the wealthy and cuts in social programs have only exacerbated. Obviously, an investigation into the slow response by FEMA is warranted, an accurate, unbiased, independent investigation, not one that will be led by the President's own domestic security advisor or a partisan committee that was formed here in this Congress.…”