Home > Landrieu Blasts Bush on Katrina Response
by Mike Liddell
U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu, D-La., issued the following statement this afternoon regarding her call yesterday for President Bush to appoint a cabinet-level official to oversee Hurricane Katrina relief and recovery efforts within 24 hours.
Sen. Landrieu said:
“Yesterday, I was hoping President Bush would come away from his tour of the regional devastation triggered by Hurricane Katrina with a new understanding for the magnitude of the suffering and for the abject failures of the current Federal Emergency Management Agency. 24 hours later, the President has yet to answer my call for a cabinet-level official to lead our efforts. Meanwhile, FEMA, now a shell of what it once was, continues to be overwhelmed by the task at hand.
“I understand that the U.S. Forest Service had water-tanker aircraft available to help douse the fires raging on our riverfront, but FEMA has yet to accept the aid. When Amtrak offered trains to evacuate significant numbers of victims - far more efficiently than buses - FEMA again dragged its feet. Offers of medicine, communications equipment and other desperately needed items continue to flow in, only to be ignored by the agency.
“But perhaps the greatest disappointment stands at the breached 17th Street levee. Touring this critical site yesterday with the President, I saw what I believed to be a real and significant effort to get a handle on a major cause of this catastrophe. Flying over this critical spot again this morning, less than 24 hours later, it became apparent that yesterday we witnessed a hastily prepared stage set for a Presidential photo opportunity; and the desperately needed resources we saw were this morning reduced to a single, lonely piece of equipment. The good and decent people of southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast - black and white, rich and poor, young and old - deserve far better from their national government.
“Mr. President, I’m imploring you once again to get a cabinet-level official stood up as soon as possible to get this entire operation moving forward regionwide with all the resources - military and otherwise - necessary to relieve the unmitigated suffering and economic damage that is unfolding.”
Today’s aerial tour of the 17th Street levee will be featured tomorrow on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos. Later, Sen. Landrieu will also appear on CBS’s 60 Minutes.
Forum posts
7 September 2005, 21:31
Mary, as a senator from Louisiana, why did you allow your fellow senators to approve the reduction in the budget regarding the levees?
8 September 2005, 02:59
What a complete idiot you are. Don’t you know anything. A statement like that is SO stupid that we can only assume that you are a complete retard. AS IF Mary Landrieu has more power than Bushco.
8 September 2005, 17:18
You obviously are clueless about how our government works. Go back to school and learn, it seems you flunked out the first time.
13 September 2005, 22:32
I am a 59 yr old Hurricane Camille survivor. I lived on the beachfront in August 1969 when it took out Biloxi. This is not something new to our country. In 1969 Camille hit on a Sunday night, by Monday afternoon, I saw uniformed & armed National Guardsmen patrolling. By Tuesday we had Red Cross water trucks delivering water (bottled water was not a comodity then, you had to bring containers to get it)...
Some of this was due to Pres. Nixon having the foresight to have the Navy & other resources follow the end of Hurricane Camille to have emergency relief at hand as soon as possible. I believe the resources came from Tampa and someplace in Texas.
My point, this is nothing new, how can this administration do anything but beg for forgiveness. It has failed at it’s most basic duty, protecting and providing for its citizens in a time of need. It all boils down to ’poor management.’...The local city government was overwhelmed, end of story, the state asked for (on Saturday) "everything you have" and it did not get there...until when? Share the blame how ever you please, but the buck stops at the top...and they just acknowledged it today.
So back of Senator Landrieu, she has it right.