WASHINGTON, D.C. – Nearly four years ago Americans sat stricken in front of our televisions, watching scenes of unspeakable destruction and despair unfold in two of our major cities. During the past two weeks, we watched again in horror as millions of our fellow citizens endured unbearable suffering. This time, however, our anguish is heightened by the knowledge that we failed to protect these communities and adequately respond to this disaster.
What transpired in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast defies the imagination. Especially heartbreaking were the images of victims who seemed to have been abandoned – from those who sat on their rooftops for days just inches above a sea of filthy water to the thousands who struggled to stay alive at the Convention Center and the Superdome.
At the same time, we have seen incredible heroism and compassion. Countless police and other emergency workers, National Guard and ordinary citizens have toiled tirelessly for days on end and deserve our gratitude. Americans across the country have opened their wallets and their hearts, donating millions of dollars and countless hours in volunteer work. But unfortunately, our Federal Government failed in its duties.
In the four years since the 9-11 attacks, homeland security and domestic preparedness were supposed to be our nation’s number one priority. Now huge flaws in this effort have been exposed. Even worse, our government failed in a situation for which we had ample warning. For years, we knew a hurricane like Katrina would be catastrophic, and for days we knew it was on the way.
In 2001, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reported that a terrorist attack in New York City, a hurricane in New Orleans and an earthquake in San Francisco were the three most cataclysmic events the country could face. We have seen the results of the first two. The hard questions must now be asked. What went wrong? How can we prepare if the “Big One” were to strike California or another terrorist attack or natural disaster of this magnitude were to hit some other American city?
First, we must confront the sad fact that FEMA, once renowned for its expertise on preventing and responding to disasters, has become an international embarrassment. FEMA’s director is completely unqualified for the job: delaying the mobilization of critical manpower and resources and remaining uninformed about the scope of the tragedy even days after Katrina hit. He should be fired. FEMA’s effective Project Impact program, which our local county emergency service agencies have used to help prepare for disasters, was eliminated despite my efforts to keep its funding going. I’ll be introducing legislation this month to reestablish the program.
Second, we have to look at the priorities of the Bush Administration. To pay for its tax cut program, the Administration has called for repeated funding cuts in a number of critical programs, including flood control and public health. For example, the Administration has frozen funding for the Army Corps of Engineers, which is responsible for protecting the coastlines, waterways and other areas susceptible to natural disaster. Just this year, President Bush proposed cutting $71 million of funding for the New Orleans Army Corps district. Many years of short-funding New Orleans’ flood control projects, combined with the degradation of local wetlands, left the city highly vulnerable. We must be certain not to repeat this mistake in other regions.
And, as a nurse, I am especially worried that our national public health infrastructure is still not ready for natural disasters of this scale or major terrorist attacks. Hospitals are facing major financial challenges; there are shortages of doctors and nurses; and many of the health professionals do not have the equipment or training they need to deal with a major emergency. Incredibly, the Administration continues to push for $10 billion in cuts to Medicaid, which provides critical health care to the neediest in our society, like so many former residents of New Orleans. I am proud to be leading the fight in Congress against these callous cuts to our health care safety net.
Finally, there is a direct connection between the devastation on the Gulf Coast and the war in Iraq. The war not only has taken the lives of nearly 1,900 brave young men and women in uniform and left tens of thousands more with life altering injuries, but it has also sapped the strength of our National Guard. It is estimated that a third of the Louisiana National Guard is in Iraq. We can only wonder how many lives would have been saved had these units been deployed in their own communities. It is long past time to begin bringing our guard and troops home.
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Congress will have three major responsibilities. The first is to deliver the funding necessary to help the victims begin to rebuild their lives. The second is to investigate the failures that contributed to our appalling disaster response. The third, and most difficult, is to try to reorient our national priorities to the most important and basic needs of our country. This will not be possible without a change in thinking by the President of the United States. He is, of course, not responsible for acts of nature. But he is very much responsible for the direction our country takes after the most devastating natural disaster in our history.
