mr. speaker , i thank the chairman for yielding me this time . 
mr. speaker , i rise in strong support of house resolution 437 . 
i think we are completely doing the right thing for the right reasons . 
i have heard the other side of the aisle argue that what is the hurry , you are rushing to create an oversight committee and let us wait a couple of months . 
i want to point out to my friends on the other side of the aisle that we are still in the hurricane season . 
in fact , we are just getting into the hurricane season , and we need to get this investigation going as soon as possible . 
it is very important that we not wait . 
we have a 5-month opportunity to study this problem and find out exactly where the responsibilities lie . 
the other side of the aisle also is suggesting that this is a republican majority investigating a republican administration . 
i point out we were not focusing just on the federal aspects of this , as they would like us to do , but we are also focusing on the local and state aspects of this . 
there are democrats and republicans all up and down the line . 
this is not a partisan thing . 
this is a way to do it . 
this is what congress has a responsibility to do and has done 41 times over the last 30 or 40 years . 
i could name any number of instances . 
my colleagues on the other side of the aisle know that is true . 
the creation of an outside independent commission , as they call it , they are calling for doing that and spending an additional $ 5 million to $ 10 million . 
we do not need to do that . 
we have the staff within this congress on both sides of the aisle , both in the majority and on the minority , and hopefully we would not spend more than $ 500 , 000 to get this work done and get it done in a bipartisan fashion . 
that is why we call it the select bipartisan committee to investigate the preparation for and the response to hurricane katrina . 
i am fully in support of that . 
