mr. speaker , i yield myself such time as i may consume . 
mr. speaker , as we deal with this great challenge , one can not help but think back to the days following one of the most tragic events in our nation 's history , that being , of course , the attacks on the world trade center , flight 93 going down in pennsylvania and , of course , the plane hitting the pentagon . 
we all know that , following that tragedy , democrats and republicans came together . 
they came together committed to ensuring that we would never see the kind of terrorist threat that happened on september 11 hit the united states or our allies or anyone in the world again . 
and that really embarked us upon this massive global war on terror , and that has been the focus of the federal government . 
we know that the top priority on september 11 , 2001 , became this bipartisan goal of trying to deal with the global war on terror . 
mr. speaker , i am very proud of the democrats in this house who have come together in a bipartisan way to work with republicans in our shared goal of winning the global war on terror . 
it is an important struggle , and it is one which many say will last beyond our lifetimes , but i am convinced that democrats and republicans will continue to work together to ensure that we win that global war on terror . 
we know that 2 1/2 weeks ago we faced another kind of disaster . 
it was a natural disaster that hit our fellow americans , our fellow citizens , on the gulf coast . 
and we know that , as we sit here today , another hurricane , hurricane ophelia , continues to pose a threat in the carolinas . 
and i will tell the members , as i stand here at this moment , mr. speaker , i live constantly with the prospect of a massive earthquake hitting the largest , most important state in the union , which i am proud to represent here . 
we in california deal with the threat of fires on a regular basis . 
i represent the angeles national forest , and that threat is a very serious one . 
and in the wake of those fires following that , we , of course , have terrible mudslides which impact tremendous numbers of people . 
we have gone through disasters in the past . 
obviously , as president bush has said , this is the worst natural disaster in our nation 's history , hurricane katrina . 
but we have faced many , many struggles . 
in california , one of the most prominent was the northridge earthquake on january 16 of 1994 . 
i know my friend from san francisco , the distinguished minority leader , suffered the loma prieta quake . 
and i will say that , having gone through all of this , mr. speaker , it is absolutely absurd , it is absurd , to believe that any member of this house , that any member of this house would not want to get to the truth of exactly what happened in the case of hurricane katrina . 
now , earlier this week , president bush came forward and said that he takes full responsibility for the federal government 's problems when it came to the preparation for and the response to hurricane katrina . 
just yesterday , governor blanco , the democratic governor of louisiana , said that she takes responsibility for what took place in her state . 
now , mr. speaker , we have a republican president and a democratic governor coming forward and saying they take responsibility for their roles in the governments that they serve , the federal government and the state government . 
the gentleman from illinois ( speaker hastert ) has come forward saying that it is very important for us to work in a bipartisan way . 
he has tried to work with the minority leader to make sure that , in appointing this select committee , we will have a chance to work in a bipartisan way . 
speaker hastert has just called for members of the committee on appropriations to go to the gulf coast to look at this situation and to report back to us , because the very important responsibility of oversight right now that the committee on appropriations has over the $ 60 billion-plus that we , in a bipartisan way , have appropriated to deal with this , needs to be addressed . 
so this notion that there is not a bipartisan commitment to get to the bottom of this is absolutely ludicrous . 
i want to make sure that if my state faces an earthquake , a fire , a mudslide that we are able to have the best response possible . 
i will tell my colleagues that this bipartisan committee is something that i think can play a very important role in ensuring that for all of us who face the prospect of a disaster in our states that we will be able to address it in a better way . 
mr. speaker , i am a proud institutionalist . 
i know that is not a popular thing to say ; but i serve on the committee on rules , and by virtue of that , i think it makes me an institutionalist . 
this is my 25th year serving here , and i am proud of the role that i have been able to play in trying to address very important institutional concerns , and we have been able to address many issues in a bipartisan way . 
now , i will acknowledge that , on occasion , the committee on rules can be a very partisan place ; but on occasion we also can be very bipartisan . 
we just reported out a rule that enjoyed strong bipartisan support dealing with coast guard reauthorization , and passage of rules like that are noncontroversial , they do not get attention , and those are things that we have worked on . 
in fact , i would argue that we do more things coming out of even the committee on rules in a bipartisan way than we do the things that we do that are very , very strident and partisan . 
but if you look at other committees around this place , mr. speaker , such as the committee on transportation , the committee on energy and commerce , the committee on financial services , you can go right down the line , democrats and republicans come together to address major public policy concerns that are out there . 
now , mr. speaker , everyone wants to make sure that no one suffers again as the people have along the gulf coast . 
i do feel for our colleague mary landrieu in the other body , and the gentleman from mississippi ( mr. taylor ) xz4003992 ; but i also think it is important for us to note that in the other body , our colleague trent lott lost his home . 
we have seen tremendous loss from people like the gentleman from louisiana ( mr. jindal ) xz4006340 on our side . 
so the point is that this is a disaster which has impacted democrats and republicans , and that is why i believe that it is incumbent upon us . 
because article i , section 8 of the u.s. constitution makes it very clear that we have the responsibility for congressional oversight , oversight of the executive branch ; and this bipartisan select committee , mr. speaker , will focus not just on the federal government . 
it will focus on state government , on local governments , on even private entities that have been involved in this process . 
accountability is something that an independent commission will not have anything to do with . 
the 9/11 commission was not accountable at all . 
we are accountable as the elected representatives of the american people to the american people . 
and i think that it is very clear that moving quickly is the right thing to do . 
the reason that i believe that it is important for us to move quickly is that , as i said , hurricane ophelia is at this moment posing a threat to the carolinas , and there are other disasters on the horizon . 
i believe that democrats and republicans should come together . 
the speaker , again , has reached out to the democratic leader and very much wants to have appointments made , and democrats will be able to ask any question that they want ; they will be able to participate in the process of bringing witnesses before the committee . 
again , everyone wants to make sure that we take the steps to ensure that this never happens again . 
mr. speaker , i urge my colleagues to support this rule . 
i urge my colleagues to support the underlying legislation which will establish this very important committee so that we can address this question and ensure that the american people will not go through what we have seen happen in the last several weeks . 
the amendment previously referred to by ms. slaughter xz4003780 is as follows : previous question for h. res. 439 , the rule for h. res. 437 the select committee to investigate the preparation for and response to hurricane katrina amendment to h. res. 439 offered by rep . 
slaughter ( ny ) amendment in nature of substitute : strike all after the resolved clause and insert : `` resolved , that immediately upon the adoption of this resolution it shall be in order without intervention of any point of order to consider in the house the bill ( h.r. 3764 ) to establish a congressional commission to examine the federal , state , and local response to the devastation wrought by hurricane katrina in the gulf region of the united states especially in the states of louisiana , mississippi , alabama , and other areas impacted in the aftermath and make immediate corrective measures to improve such responses in the future . 
the bill shall be considered as read . 
the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill to final passage without intervening motion except : ( 1 ) one hour equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking minority member of the committee on rules ; and ( 2 ) one motion to recommit. '' mr. speaker , i yield back the balance of my time , and i move the previous question on the resolution . 
