William H. Frist: “I yield myself time as necessary for my statement. Mr. President, we do turn to the second supplemental--the second…”

“I yield myself time as necessary for my statement. Mr. President, we do turn to the second supplemental--the second supplemental in a week and a half--to address the natural disaster we have watched unfold, and that has literally unfolded in several ways, which is continuing now with both continued recovery and people settling around this country. Yesterday, Speaker Hastert and I announced the formation of a bicameral and bipartisan committee to analyze and conduct a real top- to-bottom investigation of the emergency preparation and response to Hurricane Katrina. The committee will be made up of senior Members. They will report their findings no later than February 15. The review will look at the emergency plans that were in place at the local, State, and Federal levels, and they will assess how the local, State, and Federal governments actually responded. It is clear that in some places the response was simply unacceptable at all levels of breakdown in systems. I saw it this weekend firsthand as a medical volunteer: too little command-and-control structure, too little communication. America deserves better. America deserves answers. The Senate must do all it can--and we are doing all we can right now--to provide immediate relief for the hundreds of thousands of people stranded and shattered by last week's events. We urgently need to pass a second disaster relief supplemental, and we will do that tonight, with no amendments, no delay.…”