Tuesday
Mar042008
Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) Criticizes FEMA Disaster Housing Strategy at Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery Hearing
Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) today chaired a Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery hearing criticizing the FEMA disaster housing strategy.
In the poverty and natural disaster stricken regions of the Gulf Coast, Landrieu was adamant about her disapproval with FEMA’s inability to help needy Americans. The panel of witnesses interrogated by Chairwoman Landrieu each took accountability for their respective lack of success in rebuilding the cities of the Gulf Coast decimated by Hurricane Katrina, their delayed responses to helping storm-torn victims, and the fast growing problem of abnormally high formaldehyde toxin levels in such communities.
Landrieu was particularly upset that reasonable deadlines to pass legislation and provide aid for families had not been met. Panel members such as Harvey Johnson, Deputy Administrator and Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, answered her criticisms by explaining that the problems regarding government responses and aid were “complex” and not easily fixable. Johnson, along with Milan Ozdinec, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Public Housing and Voucher Programs in the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, insisted that the government is actually doing a respectable job in helping families, paying particular attention to the most needy and elderly families first.
Despite the positive aspects of governmental housing assistance highlighted by Johnson, Ozdinec, and Dr. Howard Frumpkin of the US Department of Health and Human Services, Landrieu remained emphatic in her insistence that FEMA make reforms in its disaster assistance, preparedness, and response methods.
In the poverty and natural disaster stricken regions of the Gulf Coast, Landrieu was adamant about her disapproval with FEMA’s inability to help needy Americans. The panel of witnesses interrogated by Chairwoman Landrieu each took accountability for their respective lack of success in rebuilding the cities of the Gulf Coast decimated by Hurricane Katrina, their delayed responses to helping storm-torn victims, and the fast growing problem of abnormally high formaldehyde toxin levels in such communities.
Landrieu was particularly upset that reasonable deadlines to pass legislation and provide aid for families had not been met. Panel members such as Harvey Johnson, Deputy Administrator and Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, answered her criticisms by explaining that the problems regarding government responses and aid were “complex” and not easily fixable. Johnson, along with Milan Ozdinec, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Public Housing and Voucher Programs in the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, insisted that the government is actually doing a respectable job in helping families, paying particular attention to the most needy and elderly families first.
Despite the positive aspects of governmental housing assistance highlighted by Johnson, Ozdinec, and Dr. Howard Frumpkin of the US Department of Health and Human Services, Landrieu remained emphatic in her insistence that FEMA make reforms in its disaster assistance, preparedness, and response methods.
tagged 
FEMA, Landrieu, recovery, response in News/Commentary
FEMA, Landrieu, recovery, response in News/Commentary
Senators At Odds Over Moratorium
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing Thursday to discuss a number of bills related to oil regulation and the Deepwater Horizon spill, which has just recently been re-capped after a pipe was allegedly damaged by a remotely-controlled robot, although oil can still be seen spewing from the pipe at an unknown rate.
However, lawmakers seem to have been distracted by debates over the 6-month moratorium on off-shore drilling exploration in the Gulf, which was lifted earlier in the week by a federal judge in New Orleans, as well as skepticism over the legitimacy of the presidential commission that recommended the drilling ban.
Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) expressed the views of many legislators, saying that it is "common sense" to stop drilling, at least on the rigs that are in development and not yet producing oil, until the disaster can be better understood.
Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (D), however, stated that she "fiercely" disagrees with the moratorium. Although the ban only applies to 33 oil rigs, Landrieu argued that an economic analysis in the state has concluded that a moratorium could threaten 46,200 jobs and lost wages could amount to $5 to $10 million dollars per month.
The Senior Senator from the state that may prove to be the most impacted by the disaster cited job creation legislation Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) is trying to pass, and stated that, "if we don't get this right we're going to eliminate every job that we're trying to create by putting people out of work in the Gulf."
Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) attacked the motives behind the President's oil spill commission, calling it, "stacked with people who philosophically oppose offshore exploration."
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar contended that the ban was, "not an ideological issue."
"With all due respect, the President, in choosing the members of this commission, chose the kinds of statesmen who, I believe, will transcend partisan politics and ideology," said Salazar.