30-Something Working Group

30-SOMETHING WORKING GROUP -- (House of Representatives - March 01, 2006)

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. It is good to be back with my 30-something friends and to engage in this dialogue.

What we have been asking for months is, where is the outrage? Where was the outrage about issue after issue that has come to light since Hurricane Katrina wreaked the devastation that it did?

I mean, just by way of example, in the Davis committee report that was just issued, where were the top White House officials on the day Katrina struck? Now, we knew in advance of Katrina, and I live in south Florida, where the hurricane center is. We had days of watching Katrina approach the gulf coast. So it is not like we did not know a category five hurricane was approaching the gulf coast. On the day Katrina struck, President Bush, we know, was on vacation in Crawford, Texas. Vice President Cheney, a little known fact, was fly fishing at his ranch in Wyoming. This was on the day Katrina struck. Chief of Staff Andrew Card was vacationing at his lakefront summer home in Maine, and Homeland Security adviser Francis Townsend was also vacationing in Maine.

Now, why would they leave a relatively junior official in charge of the situation room in the White House when you have a cat five hurricane bearing down on probably what they knew, they knew, was the most vulnerable region in the country when it came to hurricane preparedness and what they knew would likely be the aftermath?

Why did President Bush and other top administration officials insist that the levees did not break until Tuesday when now we know, with the Davis report and with Mr. Brown's revelation, that he told them the day Katrina struck, the night that Katrina struck?

Mr. DELAHUNT. The day before, Debbie.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. They knew.

Mr. DELAHUNT. In his own words.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. I know what the House rules are, and I know what they constrain us from doing, but they knew. And that is what Michael Brown testified. They knew. He told them. And now he is free from the constraints from working for the administration, and let us acknowledge that the four of us have been fairly critical of Mr. Brown. We meted out our own share of criticism of his performance. But now that he has been freed of his ties to the administration, and we all acknowledge that when you work for an administration, unfortunately, sadly, with this administration in particular, loyalty to your dying day is supposed to be the most valuable, particularly if they are continuing to sign your paycheck.

He made it clear when they were no longer signing his paycheck, 60 days after he was supposedly no longer with the Department, that he issued warning after warning to Secretary Chertoff, to the President. He indicated that he personally spoke with the President and told him that there was a levee break, that there was significant damage and he sounded the alarm bells. And the President was on vacation in Crawford, Texas. The Vice President was fly fishing in Wyoming. Homeland Security adviser Francis Townsend was in Maine, and his chief of staff was at home in Maine.

Mr. DELAHUNT. And they want us to trust them.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Trust them. They have got our back.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And a lot of what they were trying to say, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, was how were we to know. We found out they did know. They were warned. And then not only were they warned, but they were spread out all over the country saying our responsibility is to execute this particular agency at this particular time and we should all be here. That is a level of incompetence that I think is unsurpassed.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Indifference, incompetence, corruption, cronyism, it is all a consistent pattern. One would think when they got hit hard in the face with the criticism and the visceral reaction of the American people in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the response to their indifference that they would learn. But now, no. They were not just surprised, but astonished at the American people's reaction to their indifference on this port deal. I mean, you go from one thing to the other. The indifference and the callous disregard for what the American people's needs are in terms of security in a natural disaster or a potential man-made disaster. Their indifference and insensitivity is just astonishing.

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