Cedric Richmond

They are complying with a Federal consent decree, and now it will cause the City of New Orleans to lose valuable Federal money in terms of DHS and FEMA funds.

And Ms. Gupta, at what point is it your office's opinion that they did not comply with Federal law?

So in summary, the old policy and the new policy, it is your opinion both were consistent with Federal law?

That has absolutely nothing to do with New Orleans.

If you are going to start cleaning up, start cleaning up at home.

It is very convenient for a White male from Virginia to talk about collusion in a consent decree.

There are a bunch of people, including me, that think that the justice system is rigged for those who are privileged and those who are rich.

Let me just start with, people make the assertion all the time that more guns are the answer--guns in schools, guns in churches, guns in movie theatres.

The longer we procrastinate in moving a supplemental appropriation for this Community Development Block Grant program, for example, the more people, unfortunately, who are going to make decisions that it just isn't worth their while to…

We have to give FEMA the benefit of the doubt that the decisions they make during a storm are right and proper.

If we give some of our Federal workers a raise, we might be able to keep them around a little bit longer.

To put this on the homeowner is--it's sad. It's sad. They built their homes according to the plans at the time.

Modular units, I think, could get there faster. They can be part of a permanent solution sometimes.

If they make a mistake, it's the locals making a mistake. Let's actually give them the ability to make decisions.

The three problems or areas I see that are the most frustrating: One is speed, the speed in which things are getting done; two, people having decisionmaking authority being in the places they need to be; and, three, deference to our local…

My frustration is that we just won't--we're assuming that people are trying to scam the system.

How do I get people $33,000 very fast?

Why is the average coming out somewhere around $8,000?

I would like FEMA to just adopt a commonsense test.

So why is the average $8,000? Everyone lost clothing. Everyone lost bedroom sets and TVs and all of these other things.

Is there a prohibition that prevents money towards going to a permanent housing solution, not temporary, permanent?

This is not about property, this is about lives.

Our Louisiana delegation should unanimously request from the President a supplemental.

It's upon government to at least help to replace the bricks and the mortar, the value that that home carries in terms of the wealth it leaves to the next generation.

The relief that our citizens want and the relief that they need and the relief that they deserve is tied up in red tape.