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By WES ALLISON, Times Staff WriterThe first congressional hearing muses on what to do in the future, rather than what went wrong.
WASHINGTON - Initially, it was supposed to have been the start of an investigation, but that didn't meet the designs of the Republican leadership, so the first congressional hearing on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina took aim at the future, rather than the past.
With senators sitting rapt, the former mayor of New Orleans advocated a victims assistance fund similar to the one created for survivors of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. A Red Cross official explained the need for residents to participate in reconstruction efforts. And the retired mayor of Grand Forks, N.D., which was flooded eight years ago, urged storm victims and their leaders to "just keep the faith" - and have a good lawyer.
Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Susan Collins, R-Maine, who convened Wednesday's hearing with the committee's ranking Democrat, Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, acknowledged the government's response to the disaster was "sluggish" and disjointed "and it failed its first test since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks."
But she kept her promise to focus not on blame, but on "how we can best assist the victims of Katrina" as recovery efforts move ahead.
The hearing, which lasted three hours and called four witnesses, was the marquee event on a chaotic day of developments as congressional Republicans, stung by public anger over how the federal government has managed the disaster, took their first uncertain steps toward assigning accountability.
Sens. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and Pete Domenici, R-N.M., urged President Bush to appoint a czar to oversee recovery and reconstruction. House Speaker Dennis Hastert announced the framework for a bipartisan House committee - 11 Republicans, nine Democrats - to investigate what went wrong, from local governments to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Democrats promised a boycott, because it wouldn't give them equal power.
Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., proposed creating an independent commission, similar to the 9/11 Commission, to investigate what went wrong before and after Katrina. Republicans easily defeated it.
At the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee hearing, across Constitution Avenue from the Capitol, most Democratic senators used their opening statements to blast Republicans for refusing to start investigating what went wrong with Katrina.
"Until these public officials who are responsible appear before this committee ... anything else is part of the administration's cover-up," thundered Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn.
Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, noted that his state, like the East Coast, is still in hurricane season. "My constituents ... want to be sure that if Hawaii is hit again, the government will help them."
Several Republicans pointed out that much had gone right, and used their witnesses to focus on the reconstruction.
Patricia Owens, who was mayor of Grand Forks, N.D., when it was flooded in 1997, credited her city's reconstruction with close cooperation among city, state and federal officials, as well as the relaxation of regulations for rebuilding.
"We can't point fingers, we need to move on," said Owens.
Former New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, called for the victims assistance fund, as well as generous unemployment benefits and job training for evacuees.
"I come here shocked and angry, hurt ... betrayed, befuddled and bewildered," he said. "But it is time to carefully plan for what the next steps are."
Iain B. Logan, a veteran of disasters in Africa and Asia with the Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said devastated Gulf Coast communities could emerge stronger than before - most do, but it takes planning. He also cautioned against "forced resettlement" of those who have lost homes and jobs.
Collins promised her committee's oversight wouldn't end here.
"Our inquiry must lay bare the painful evidence of human errors that have aded to the damage," she said. "We must learn the lessons of Katrina."
But committee members seemed uncertain about what to do next. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has called for creating a bipartisan committee, similar to Hastert's House version, to investigate Katrina preparedness and response. That could keep Collins' committee out of it.
As the hearing ended, and the senators thanked the witnesses, Lieberman said, "We may want to consider passing on some of these ideas to the administrative agencies."
Or, added Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, even share them with the Bush administration, or maybe with officials over at FEMA.