Pete Domenici: “I rise to discuss, for a moment on the record, what I have been telling some Senators individually and in groups about…”

“I rise to discuss, for a moment on the record, what I have been telling some Senators individually and in groups about the management of postdisaster activities in the Gulf Coast area. Let me begin by saying that I am not going to add to the various discussions being had about who should decide what persons, if any, made mistakes in terms of controlling this disaster, the scourge of this hurricane. Did somebody not do what they were supposed to do or did somebody do it too late? If so, who was it, when did the mistake occur, and why did the person act as they did? That is, who was at fault in responding to this natural disaster, if anyone. I am not talking about that. I hear the rancor and the partisanship in the discussion about who should do that. I am talking about the fact that we have now the most difficult situation that America on its homeland has ever had to manage. We have never had anything as difficult as this to manage--the confusion, disrepair, individual suffering, displacement, hardship, property destruction, pollution. All of those things affected literally hundreds of thousands of people in three-plus States. We are currently in the immediate aftermath of the force that brought all those things upon us as a nation. How many people have been displaced--sometimes called refugees, but they will not be referred to as such by me--how many men, women, and children?…”