U.S. Representative Thomas M. Davis Iii (R-Va) Holds a Hearing On Hurricane Prediction

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U.S. Representative Thomas M. Davis Iii (R-Va) Holds a Hearing On Hurricane Prediction

HOUSE SELECT BIPARTISAN COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE THE PREPARATION FOR AND RESPONSE TO HURRICANE KATRINA HOLDS A HEARING ON HURRICANE PREDICTION

SEPTEMBER 22, 2005

SPEAKERS: U.S. REPRESENTATIVE THOMAS M. DAVIS III (R-VA), CHAIRMAN U.S. REPRESENTATIVE F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER JR. (R-WI) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE HAROLD ROGERS (R-KY) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE CHRISTOPHER SHAYS (R-CT) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE HENRY BONILLA (R-TX) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE STEPHEN BUYER (R-IN) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE SUE MYRICK (R-NC) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE MAC THORNBERRY (R-TX) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE KAY GRANGER (R-TX) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE CHARLES W. PICKERING (R-MS) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE WILLIAM SHUSTER (R-PA) U.S. REPRESENTATIVE SHERWOOD BOEHLERT (R-NY)

WITNESSES: U.S. REPRESENTATIVE EUGENE TAYLOR (D-MS)

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE CHARLES J. MELANCON (D-LA)

MAX MAYFIELD, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER, NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE, NOAA

DAVID JOHNSON, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE, NOAA

[*] DAVIS: The select committee will come to order.

Good morning and welcome to the first meeting of the Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Katrina. It's been said that experience is the best teacher. The unfortunate thing is that the learning process is sometimes a painful one.

Yesterday, Katrina's death toll officially passed 1,000. I can't imagine the pain and heartbreak that so many families have endured the past weeks. We owe it to them to live up to this committee's bipartisan congressional mandate, a mandate that's arrived from the American people as well. It's a mandate to stop attacking or defending government entities for partisan purposes and do the oversight we're charged with doing, to investigate aggressively what went wrong and what went right, to do it by the book an let the chips fall where they may.

There's so very much to examine here: why coordination and information sharing between local, state and federal governments appears to have been so dismal, whether FEMA had been organizationally undermined and under-funded, why all residents were not evacuated, why the New Orleans levee system failed, why relief and medical supplies and support were slow in arriving and why government at all levels failed to react more effectively to a storm that was predicted with unprecedented timeliness and accuracy.

The task before us is considerable. It's too important for carping. The American people want the facts, and they're watching. They alone will judge whether the review we begin today is thorough and fair. Our final exam will be the report we are tasked with completing. We want both Republicans and Democrats at the table to do this job right. The more voices asking tough questions, the better.

I have attempted over this past week to extend an olive branch to senior Democrats, to reassure that our review will be about planning and policy and performance, and not politics, about getting the facts, not getting even. But regardless of who does and does not show up for our hearings, we have a job to do and I'm intent on doing it right. We need to begin now, while evidence and memories are fresh.

I'm going to ask members to hold their opening statements for the hearing at this point. We're going to hold the record open until the end of the day for members who want to submit written statements about the adoption of the select committee rules. We'll now consider the adoption of the rules of the select committee.

The committee resolution containing the rules has been distributed to all members, and, without objection, the resolution will be considered read and open for amendment at any point.

Are there any amendments? If there is no further discussion, I would move the select committee adopt the resolution as the rules of the select committee. I will add that when the -- should the minority appoint members, we'd be happy to revisit any rules changes they think would be fair and equitable.

The question is on adopting the select committee rules. All in favor, signify by saying aye.

Opposed say no.

In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it and the motion is agreed to. And the hearing, "Predicting Hurricanes: What We Knew About Katrina and When," will convene right now.

The select committee will now come to order for our hearing. Today's hearing is the logical first step in fulfilling our responsibilities. The resolution creating this committee was explicit. We are to conduct a full and complete investigation into local, state and federal government preparations for and responses to Hurricane Katrina. It just makes sense that we first need a record of who was to...

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