Political Quotes

“there are many things we do not yet know about the Government's response to Hurricane Katrina, but two things are very clear: The Federal Government's response was unacceptable, and the victims and all Americans deserve to know why. Following 9/11, preparedness for national emergencies was supposed to be a priority for our Government. Americans were made to believe that the Government was doing everything it could to prepare for terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and national crises. Katrina makes it clear that we failed. We must find out why, and we need to do it soon, to make sure that devastation, such as caused by this hurricane, never happens again, whether natural disaster or act of terrorists. When we faced a similar situation after 9/11, Democrats and Republicans came together and established an independent blue ribbon commission. I am sad to see the Republicans now want a different approach. We don't know the details of their approach. I have been talked to on a couple of occasions very lightly about having either chairmen, ranking members, and a few members from some of the committees to get together. It would be a joint task force of the House and the Senate. I have great confidence in the Senate committee structure. The chairmen and the ranking members are where they are based on the rules of the Senate, something that is called seniority. Democrats do it a little differently than the Republicans, but it is still basically a seniority system.…”