On the recordJune 10, 1997
There seems to be an abundance of selective memory around here. I remember--in fact, I have been through how that disaster legislation has worked. In fact, I was a staff member one time on the biggest one of all where we did not have FEMA. We did not have existing law. In fact, if you go back and look at the history of what has led to FEMA, it was in legislation we drafted in 1969. The disaster occurred August 18, as I recall it was, something like that, and we had to rely on the Corps of Engineers and people, volunteers to come in and help us. It was weeks, weeks before we got the legislation and, in fact, got many of the programs to help us. In fact, we did not have a lot of the programs that are now on the books. I am not saying that that is good. I think we have learned from that experience.
Said by
Trent Lott
Source
govinfo.gov