Washington – Congressman Al Green (D-TX) will join other speakers, including Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Robert Coakley, ACORN Katrina Survivors Association, and Mary Spencer, ACORN DC Leader, in a Washington, D. C., press conference where ACORN will announce its next steps to pressure FEMA to comply with a federal judge’s orders to “immediately’’ resume making housing benefits available to 11,000 survivors of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. 

The Washington, D.C., press conference is scheduled for December 7, 2006, at 10:30 a.m. (EST) at 2220 Rayburn House Office Building.  It is one of four being conducted around the country by ACORN.

Survivors of Hurricane Katrina and plaintiffs in the lawsuit will speak about their struggles over FEMA housing issues and their work with public officials to pressure the agency. 

The court ordered the aid restored retroactively, so affected families are to receive checks for past payments from Sept. 1 to now, and continued assistance until February 2007, or until FEMA gives them adequate notice of why they were ineligible. The ruling affects families mostly in Texas and Louisiana who received FEMA rental assistance.

###