Six months after the most devastating natural disaster in the history of the United States, the relief, renewal, and reconstruction efforts are still not effective enough across the Gulf Coast.  I recently returned from a three day tour of the areas affected by Katrina with the bipartisan leadership of the House of Representatives.

The areas I visited seemed to be frozen in time.  Block-after-block, the carnage of the storm is still present with cars left upside down, houses off their foundations, and debris virtually everywhere.  As people are returning to the region, we need to take the four following steps to aid in the recovery and improve the ability of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Corps of Engineers to address its disaster relief and response mission.

• We must increase the revenue flow to the state of Louisiana so that the state can invest in coastal erosion prevention and new levee protection above category 3 status.  I am cosponsoring H.R. 4761 authored by Rep. Jindal of Louisiana.  This bill would make some of the royalties from oil and gas extracted from Louisiana available to the state for rebuilding and prevention efforts.  This would provide the state with between a half and $1 billion annually for these projects.
• We need to reform the insurance system, especially flood insurance.  People who pay to insure their property deserve to receive what they paid for.  Insurance companies have not been fair or responsive to individuals throughout the Gulf Coast.  As the federal government considers flood insurance reauthorization and further funding, a very critical analysis of Gulf coast claims must be factored into the solutions.
• We need to provide more substantial temporary housing for the people of the Gulf Coast.  Only three months away from the 2006 hurricane season, the trailers FEMA is providing will not adequately protect people living in them in the case of even a mild tropical storm.
• We need to strongly consider removing FEMA from the Department of Homeland Security.  The primary focus of DHS should be prevention and the primary focus of FEMA should be response.  These missions should be independent.  Just as NASA does not belong in the Department of Transportation, FEMA needs an independent budget, focused attention, and “command and control” leadership of a single department head with expertise in crisis management. 

Katrina shook our foundations and revealed weaknesses in the government’s disaster response at the local, state and federal

level.  Moving forward, we must learn from our mistakes while acting decisively to help the people still struggling to

rebuild their lives.