CNN "Larry King Live" - Transcript

Interview

CNN "Larry King Live" - Transcript

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KING: Joining us now from Baton Rouge, Louisiana is Congressman Bobby Jindal, Republican of Louisiana, a member of the Homeland Security Committee. He wrote "The Wall Street Journal" op-ed piece headlined "Deadly Bureaucracy in Katrina's Wake, Red Tape too Often Trumped Common Sense." And, in Jackson, Mississippi is Congressman Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi, Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Committee.

We'll start with Congressman Thompson. What do you make of Michael Brown, the FEMA director, being relieved of on site responsibilities? He says the media is making him a scapegoat.

REP. BENNIE THOMPSON (D), MISSISSIPPI: Well, I think you look at his performance in Katrina and he absolutely needed to go. It was a pitiful performance and it cost a lot of lives and we can do better.

KING: Congressman Jindal, do you think this is a removal? Is this a kick upstairs?

REP. BOBBY JINDAL, (R) LOUISIANA: Well, I certainly hope the situation on the ground improves. I really don't care who's in charge, whether it's the admiral or Michael Brown. What I care about is I want my sheriffs, my mayors, my local constituents to get the food, the water, the supplies they need.

So, if putting somebody from the military in charge cleans up the bureaucracy, streamlines the process, I'm all for it but this has always been bigger than one person. It's really been about the bureaucracy.

KING: And in your article you said the opportunistic politicians, I guess you meant of both parties, playing blame game while there is so much real work to do but is it blame or is it cause?

JINDAL: You know, I don't think this is the time to be pointing fingers. You heard from the state that the federal government didn't respond quickly enough. You hear from the federal government the state didn't ask early enough. I think there will be time to ask hard questions and I hope we do that so we're better prepared for the next disaster.

But, at this point, what I'm most interested in is making sure that people on the ground that need to be rescued are rescued, people in the shelters that need answers to their questions are getting those answers, they know how to pay their bills, where to send their kids to school, they know what they're going to do next.

Many of them don't know where their jobs are. Many of them don't know where their homes are. Many of them are wondering what's going to happen to them. I think that's what's important right now. Let Washington play all the partisan politics later.

KING: Congressman Thompson there has been some, mostly Democrats, proposing a Katrina czar, someone like Colin Powell, putting someone above politics in charge what do you think?

THOMPSON: Well, I think you have to have someone who has the confidence of the community. What we have with FEMA is a leadership problem. That leadership really came to a crashing halt during Katrina, Larry. What we have to do now is pick ourselves up, look at what went wrong, put a commission together, make sure that we have good people there so we can get the job done.

Bobby is right. We need to help the people but we still have problems right now. Many of the things he's talking about I have communities in my state who are yet to get the relief that they need, so we're still having problems while we're still trying to correct them. But in Washington we need to have the commission put together.

KING: And realistically speaking, Congressman Jindal, it's still hurricane season. You could get another one or two or three or four.

JINDAL: Absolutely. Unfortunately, tragically we know that America is likely to face another tragedy, whether it's manmade or natural or there's another hurricane or another terrorist attack.

I do want to say there is some good news. The first responders have been heroic. Our law enforcement and other healthcare officials have been working around the clock without any regard to their personal safety, their personal property. Also, the private sector has been incredibly generous. Churches, charities, individuals from across the country have flooded our state and really risen to this occasion.

We've seen both the worst and the best behavior but we should really also emphasize the best behavior. We're very grateful not only for the bravery of our first responders but also the generosity of the American people.

KING: Where's the money coming from, Congressman Thompson?

THOMPSON: Well, obviously we've put $60 billion into it now, Larry. We'll probably be around $200 billion at some point just trying to get Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama back whole.

We're committed in Washington to come up with whatever it takes to get the job done. The good people of those states had nothing to do with Hurricane Katrina. In the past we've come together as a country and we'll do it again in this situation.

KING: Congressman Jindal, should active duty troops be allowed to do civilian kind of work in tragedies?

JINDAL: You know, there was a big argument early on about the ability to get enough National Guardsmen on the ground or enough active duty troops. I'm certainly -- look, if our governor had asked the president for those active duty troops, I would have supported that.

And you remember early on there were acts, not widespread, but there were acts of violence that interfered with the rescue efforts. Fortunately, a large presence of Guard supported with a smaller number of active duty troops were able to restore security to the scene working with local law enforcement.

If it had been necessary to put in more active duty troops, if the governor had said this is what it's going to take to stop the shooting to allow rescuers to do their jobs, I certainly would have supported that and I wouldn't have questioned or criticized that call.

KING: Congressman Thompson, your governor says this is going to take for Mississippi, Haley Barbour says this is going to take a long, long, long time, you agree?

THOMPSON: I agree, Larry. We've had a big hit here in Mississippi. We had Camille in 1969 but we came back. We'll have to do the same thing again but we're a resilient state. We've had difficulties in the past. We'll pull together as a state and we'll make it.

KING: Congressman Jindal, will there be a New Orleans again?

JINDAL: Absolutely. We're going to rebuild and restore those things that people around the world love about New Orleans, our history, our culture, our architecture, our food. It's one of the most authentic cities, not only in America but in the world. It's also an opportunity to improve and I don't mean opportunity casually because this is a devastating tragedy. It's the first time America will be rebuilding a major American city in the history of our country.

We had some things that were broken before the hurricane, like our public school system. We didn't have the best healthcare outcomes. We had a crime problem. Our economy was growing but we had more needs. We had more needs for good paying jobs. Shame on us if we spend all this money and all this effort and simply rebuild things that didn't work.

Let's improve public housing. Let's improve our schools. Let's create tax incentives. Let's create better paying jobs for all those people who want to come back home to New Orleans. So, absolutely we'll rebuild the city, not only keeping what was great but fixing some of the things that weren't so great.

KING: Thank you Congressman Bobby Jindal, Republican of Louisiana, Congressman Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi.

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