My office is involved in the Katrina Working Group, which meets weekly on the Hill, and involves Congressional staff and NGO representatives working for the passage of the CBC's omnibus bill: HR 4197 and to address survivor issues as they arise.  On February 7^th a "Katrina Emergency Summit" was held on Capitol Hill, bringing together a diverse array of groups working to address the needs of survivors.  Out of that meeting, the Gulf Coast Renewal Campaign was formed.  If you want more information about this campaign, you can call my office to ask for details.

When I visited the ravaged city of New Orleans in January, I was shocked to witness that the barrier on the Orleans Parish side of the 17^th Street Canal was merely a slab of reinforced concrete, eleven inches this, with no embankment as found on the Jefferson Parish side.  It is little wonder that this levee failed.  Moreover, the Corps admitted on June 2^nd that it had engaged in shoddy work when building the levees.  This is simply inexcusable. 

The most recent Supplemental Appropriations Bill, HR 4939, is currently in Conference Committee.  We expect to see funds for reconstruction of the levee committed with the passage of this bill, if the President doesn't veto it.  But I fear the funds will be insufficient to allow for the construction of levees capable of withstanding hurricanes of category 3 or higher.  There is no limit to how fast hurricanes can blow, so we cannot build against category 5 hurricanes, but if we look to the level of investment and the size and quality of levees in the Netherlands, a simple comparison shows that the old levee system in New Orleans is pathetic by comparison.  If oil rigs and not people were situated inside those levees, one suspects that securing the funds to invest in levees the same quality as what they have in Holland would not be such a big problem.

(3) to stop FEMA from their continued policies and eviction deadlines(next deadline is 6/1/06) that will ultimately result in the pushing of the gulf region survivors over the edge and permanetly into the growing ranks of the homeless;

(4) the effect of all levels of government's neglect and their continued violation,of the Stafford Act re: 18 months of housing to disastor victims.

The tragic saga of the survivors continues to unfold with tears.  Rep. John Lewis,  Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin and I recently sent a letter to FEMA requesting an extension of the May 31^st deadline for those receiving emergency shelter assistance under Section 403 of the Stafford Act, and a review of FEMA's eligibility guidelines.  Hundreds of thousands of survivor families have been or will be "transitioned" to receiving 18 months of individualized housing assistance under Section 408 of the Stafford Act.  But ten thousand families or more are being denied housing assistance as of June 1^st, just as an undetermined number of survivors were denied further housing assistance when they were evicted from temporary shelter in hotels between December and March 15^th. 

Along with 61 other Members of Congress, I have also signed on to an Amicus Brief in a suit in Texas being filed against FEMA, seeking to halt the denial of housing aid to survivors.  This week, Judge Hittner denied a temporary restraining order.  The full case will be taken up on June 20^th.  Meanwhile, even as you are meeting on June 3^rd, frustrated survivors plan to retake a damaged public housing complex with an eye to making it habitable for many otherwise homeless citizens of New Orleans, many of whom have returned only to live in their cars or on the street.

(5) cronyism re: billions of dollar contracts that were awarded to corporations often without competitive bidding.

As I stated at a press conference while visiting New Orleans on a Congressional Delegation in January, the waste of resources in terms of the tens of billions of dollars poured into the coffers of private contractors who by all appearances had accomplished very little by that time was sinful and shameful.  We even have reports that some of the more unscrupulous subcontractors have hired immigrant laborers to do the work, and then called the immigration officials just before payday to deport the laborers without pay, thus increasing their profit further.  Whilst tens of billions have been wasted paying for the scandalously inadequate performance of contractors in (not) cleaning up or rebuilding the Gulf Coast, over 150 Katrina relief bills in Congress covering a broad range of social needs are stuck in committee, as a recent chart that Barbara Lee's office and my office prepared shows. 

Many Democrats have remarked on how the present Congress will meet less hours on the floor than any previous Congress, and have dubbed it the new "do nothing Congress."  What the scandal of contracting in Iraq and for Katrina reconstruction shows is that this is really the "do nothing unless it profits your rich friends" Congress.  The callous indifference being shown to the plight of those who have lost everything and are left without governmental assistance, whilst contractors close to the administration pocket billions, is a domestic scandal almost without precedent in American history.  Without a citizens' movement determined to expose this scandal of greed and cruel, callous indifference, we can only expect more of the same in future.  I expect that is what you will be talking about at your coalition meeting today.  I am sorry that I cannot be with you, and I hope that your meeting is productive and energizing.