Barbara Mikulski: “I supported Senator Clinton's amendment to restore FEMA to Cabinet-level rank and establish it once again as an…”

“I supported Senator Clinton's amendment to restore FEMA to Cabinet-level rank and establish it once again as an independent agency. In the early 1990s, as the chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on VA-HUD, we funded FEMA. Senator Garn, my wonderful colleague, was my ranking member. We found that FEMA was a Cold War relic, and we went to work on a bipartisan basis, transforming it from a relic of the Cold War into a professional, prepared, all- hazards agency. Hurricane Katrina was the storm we all feared. In the hours and days after Hurricane Katrina, like all of you I watched in disbelief and absolute frustration. Why? At the Federal Government's befuddled and boondoggled response blowing it. The people in our Gulf Coast States were doubly victimized first by the hurricane, second by the slow and sluggish response of our Government. And I thought: How like Hugo. How like Andrew. I didn't know about Betsy. So this, of course, has prompted reform. Well, back in 1989 when we took a look at this, what did I see? What I found out as I took over the chairmanship of that subcommittee was that FEMA was a Cold War agency. It focused only on worrying about if we were hit with a nuclear attack. It was out of date, out of touch, and riddled with political hacks. If you had to give someone a favor job, whether it was at the Federal level or the State level, put them in civil defense. It was called civil defense.…”