“Yes, Sir, Mr. Chairman.  In fact, I just, I left a conference call which I will soon be joining again with our Governor of Arkansas.   Our Governor is housing about 60,000 of our neighbors from Mississippi and Louisiana.  As you can imagine, we have a lot of challenges that we want to meet and we want to be there for them and lend a helping hand.  

“I have grave concerns about the response time in the aftermath of this hurricane and subsequent flooding and levee failures as it relates to FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency).  I believe that we need to make FEMA a cabinet-level position and remove it from Homeland Security. We have some short and long-term needs that are going to have to be met for the people of Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama.  I believe that we must have a bipartisan commission, much like the 9/11 Commission, to figure out what went wrong and how to avoid this from happening in the future.

“But there are times for those things.  Right now is the time, I believe, to try and restore order in New Orleans, to help the people of these three states get their lives back together, and obviously the challenge of recovering the bodies that remain in the devastation of this hurricane. 

“Today, this hearing before the Energy and Commerce Committee is quite frankly about dealing with the aftermath of Katrina as it relates to energy and gasoline supply and prices. 

“So, let me say this.  Over the August district work period, I traveled the Fourth District, in fact, about 8,000 miles worth of traveling in my district listening to the concern of my constituents about rising gas and diesel prices. I heard this before the hurricane; obviously it was compounded by the hurricane.  I witnessed first hand already inflated gas prices jump from $2.45 a gallon to $3.25 a gallon in communities throughout Arkansas. These are the very towns and communities that our neighbors from Mississippi and Louisiana and Alabama have traveled to seeking shelter.  

“Many citizens in my rural Congressional District commute over 100 miles round trip for work each day.  Many farmers in my district face hardships in operating the necessary equipment especially in this drought to harvest their crops due to high diesel prices.  These citizens as well as those impacted by the hurricane in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama simply cannot afford these drastic increases in fuel prices.  We need to ensure the people in this country that oil market manipulation and price gouging are not occurring and that the Federal Trade Commission’s ongoing investigations do find manipulations. We need to move swiftly and effectively to punish those taking advantages of this situation. 

“Oil production platforms, import terminals, pipelines, and refineries were all affected as a result of Hurricane Katrina.  The full impact that Hurricane Katrina will have on oil markets will depend on how quickly these facilities will be able to recover to pre-hurricane status. 

“Mr. Chairman, finally, let me just encourage this committee to work to do all it can in a bipartisan way to bring down the high cost of gasoline, to maintain an adequate supply while also meeting the needs and challenges of the people that have been directly impacted by this horrible natural disaster.  With that, I yield back the balance of my time.” 

Today’s remarks are a part of Ross’s continuing efforts to respond to the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.   Wednesday, Ross co-sponsored legislation to remove FEMA from the Department of Homeland Security.  The legislation mandates that the Director of FEMA be a cabinet-level official, report directly to the President, and establishes two Deputy Directors within FEMA, one to focus on natural disasters and one for terrorism related disasters.  Last Thursday, Ross sent a letter to Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Deborah Platt Majoras requesting that an immediate investigation of inflated gas prices be conducted to determine if climbing gas prices are the result of unfair price gouging.