mr. speaker , i thank the gentlewoman from new york ( ms. slaughter ) xz4003780 , the distinguished ranking democratic member on the house committee on rules , for yielding me this time . 
a footnote right there , mr. speaker . 
i hope the irony is not lost on the house that the gentlewoman , a new york member , is being lectured to about homeland security issues and why there is no need for an independent katrina commission . 
new yorkers were told 3 and 4 years ago that there was no need for an independent commission on 9/11 . 
i note peripherally that the distinguished chairman of the committee on rules has other business and has left the floor ; but i was prepared to ask him , and perhaps his replacement in the chair for the majority can answer for me , what did the house of representatives do in the last 3 years with reference to the tragedy of 9/11 ? 
what we wound up doing , because the victims and new york pressed forward , was establishing an independent commission . 
the chairman pontificates that we should exercise our constitutional mandate ; and so does his replacement , my friend and colleague on the committee on rules , say what our constitutional duty is . 
every one of us is mindful of our constitutional duty . 
but are you then prepared to admit that we did not exercise it correctly in the 9/11 commission period and that is why the 9/11 commission came into existence in the first place ? 
last year , as we all know , four hurricanes ravaged my home state of florida and some of the gulf coast . 
three of them literally destroyed parts of the district that i am privileged to represent . 
in the immediate and long-term aftermath , our communities saw fema 's shortcomings . 
we saw that a once-reliable agency had been placed on the back burner as an afterthought in the department of homeland security . 
natural disaster preparedness and response programs have become trapped in a homeland security bureaucracy . 
fema has lost its focus , and floridians and others know that . 
our delegation literally begged the committees of jurisdiction to hold hearings on what we saw in florida . 
i even introduced bipartisan legislation in march with our colleague on the majority side , the gentleman from florida ( mr. shaw ) xz4003690 , to address what we perceived to be fema 's largest problems . 
yet every time we took our concerns to the committees , we were told it is not a big enough problem to consider on its own . 
our staff was told we do not think that an oversight hearing is needed . 
well , mr. speaker , what america saw in the gulf coast resembles the federal government 's absolute incompetence that florida saw last year . 
despite a whole lot of lip service , nothing has changed . 
the 9/11 commission was created to provide a full and complete accounting of the 2001 terrorist attacks . 
implicit in this mandate is the simple fact that congress alone would not or could not provide such a full and complete accounting . 
there is no reason to expect that the republican katrina commission will do any better . 
that is why i and the gentleman from new jersey ( mr. menendez ) xz4002720 and 156 of our colleagues yesterday introduced h.r. 3764 , legislation establishing a real independent commission , immune from political influence and absolute partisanship . 
and while they can not officially cosponsor our bill , a significant part , 76 percent , of the american people agree with us . 
they question this congress ' ability to exercise real oversight and are calling for an independent and bipartisan katrina commission . 
supporting the american people 's concerns , you , mr. speaker , said at one point , and i quote , `` our party controls the levers of government . 
we 're not about to go and look beneath a bunch of rocks to try to cause heartburn. '' put another way , mr. speaker : we helped create this mess , and we are not going to be able to investigate it ourselves . 
so forgive me , mr. speaker , if i question the majority 's ability to conduct effective oversight with this type of political candor . 
substantively , the republican plan is partisan . 
and because my colleagues say it is bipartisan does not make it so . 
it is inadequate . 
in stark contrast to the 9/11 commission , republicans outnumber democrats on the majority 's partisan katrina commission . 
in contrast to the 9/11 commission , which was given 18 months to do its job , the majority 's partisan katrina commission is only given 5 months . 
as the chairman put it last night , do it quick , do it fast . 
quickly , he said . 
despite the 9/11 commission 's $ 15 million budget to do its job , the majority 's commission they propose is only given $ 500 , 000 . 
footnote right there . 
what about the committees of jurisdiction already in existence in congress ? 
and what about creating a circus atmosphere that drains resources from this congress do you not understand ? 
shamefully , the house will not have an opportunity to vote on the hastings-menendez independent katrina commission legislation , because republicans have blocked us from offering it . 
just as they always do , republicans block what they can not defeat . 
despite what republicans will suggest , today 's debate is not about politics . 
it is about the need for truth to assure the american people that we all know their needs . 
for my constituents , it is about the failures of this congress , and for others it is about the failures in new orleans and in the states and at the federal government . 
it is about saving lives and rebuilding communities . 
