[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 116 (Thursday, September 15, 2005)] [Extensions of Remarks] [Page E1878] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] TIME TO ESTABLISH AN INDEPENDENT HURRICANE KATRINA COMMISSION ______ HON. WM. LACY CLAY of missouri in the house of representatives Thursday, September 15, 2005 Mr. CLAY. Mr. Speaker, this is to register my support for the legislation, H.R. 3764, to establish an independent commission to study the Federal Government's response to Hurricane Katrina. The disaster brought by Hurricane Katrina is indisputable. The failure of government agencies and elected officials to effectively minimize the suffering and death of the victims in the Gulf Coast is indefensible. History will record the Katrina disaster as a turning point in this nation's history. When the waters rose and the levees burst, the world watched as thousands of sick and elderly Americans, thousands of poor families with young children cried out for food and water. American citizens who trusted the advice of the government were abandoned in an evacuated city without food or water, without plumbing, without law enforcement, without transportation and without hope. The pictures we saw were nothing short of unbelievable. Mr. Speaker, in September 2005 the image of America was forever changed in the eyes of the entire world. As a nation we can no longer pretend that all Americans have the opportunity to share in the wealth of this great nation. The winds of Katrina exposed the truth to all Americans and to all the world. The very least this body must now do is to abandon the partisanship that has stifled public policy making for too many years. We are elected officials and our first responsibility is to represent the people--not to represent political parties. There should be no disagreement that whatever government did or did not do in response to Hurricane Katrina, we did not do our best. The mission failed. And it was not the failure of one person or the failure of one government agency or the failure of any political party--it was a collective failure. Now we must come together to do everything humanly possible to make certain that this never, ever happens again. Mr. Speaker, we must establish an Independent Katrina Commission to assess the federal government's response to this hurricane and to determine what we must do to effectively respond to future large-scale catastrophes. The people of this nation expect nothing less. It would be stupid and it would be senseless for this body to even consider doing otherwise. I implore my colleagues to remember the thousands of American citizens whose trust in our government was destroyed when their livelihoods were lost, their homes were washed away and the poor and the sick were left all alone to die. It will take a generation or more for most of the victims and their families to mend; this Congress must do everything possible to support them. The recovery of our nation is at stake. We must work to ensure that Katrina remains the single greatest natural disaster in our history. We need an Independent Katrina Commission to restore faith in this government and to ensure that we never again experience a preventable disaster. ____________________