[StBernard] Landrieu gets perch for Katrina focus

Westley Annis westley at da-parish.com
Sat Jan 27 14:39:45 EST 2007


She leads new panel on disaster recovery
Friday, January 26, 2007
By Bruce Alpert

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Mary Landrieu says she will use her chairmanship of the
Senate's new Disaster Recovery Subcommittee to focus on ways that the
federal government can avoid the mistakes made in the response to Hurricane
Katrina.

"Not only will we be able to review what went wrong and why to help us avoid
similar mistakes, but I'll also be able to focus on the present," Landrieu
said. "Pushing through bureaucracy and red tape and trying to help get the
resources down to the state and through the system faster. My intention is
to help this country eventually build the best coordinated emergency
management system ever."

Landrieu said she will consider having the subcommittee look into
allegations from former FEMA head Michael Brown that Bush advisers wanted to
"rub (Louisiana Gov. Kathleen) Blanco's nose" in the chaos that followed
Katrina by seizing control of the Louisiana National Guard. The White House
has denied the accusation that it treated Blanco, a Democrat, differently
from Republican Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour.

necessary, Landrieu said, she'll use her subpoena power to determine whether
partisan politics affected the administration's response to Hurricane
Katrina. But her main goal, Landrieu said, is to help find ways to get
resources to Louisiana and other Gulf Coast communities and improve the
government's response to future disasters. One area she plans to examine is
how to better use private agencies and faith-based organizations in the
early days after a disaster strikes.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs Committee, said he added two subcommittees, the
Disaster Recovery Subcommittee and State, Local and Private Sector
Preparedness and Integration Subcommittee, to concentrate on areas that he
thinks need more attention from Congress.
Landrieu said Lieberman has assured her that the new panel "will have the
full authority to do whatever it takes" to examine the mistakes made during
Katrina and Rita and look for ways to avoid them in the future.

"Rest assured, I will use this authority responsibly as we seek answers and
work to craft solutions," Landrieu said.

On Monday, Lieberman and Landrieu will be joined by Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs Committee member Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., a
Democratic presidential candidate, for a field hearing on Katrina at the
Supreme Court in New Orleans.

Lieberman has invited Sen. David Vitter, R-La., who isn't a panel member, to
participate.





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