mr. speaker , for so many reasons my colleagues on this side of the aisle have articulated , this resolution should be rejected . 
because it is neither bipartisan in terms of its authority , nor bipartisan in terms of its power , nor bipartisan in terms of its subpoena power . 
that will all rest with the majority . 
the question that must be answered is how is it that fema , which 5 years ago was a world-class agency that was being praised by republicans and democrats alike , by local officials , by governors , by mayors , by the international community , who were coming and visiting and taking lessons from fema , how in 5 years was that agency so incredibly hollowed out that it could not respond to hurricane katrina ? 
this president and this administration made some horrible decisions about putting political hacks and their cronies in charge of the agency that is in charge of the safety of the people of the united states , whether it is western fires , earthquakes , floods , tornadoes or hurricanes . 
he appointed political hacks . 
is he going to investigate that himself , as he says ? 
this congress , powerful members of the senate and the house , made decisions about using fema as a honey pot to take resources out of and divert them elsewhere . 
the committee on appropriations chairmen of both houses , the leadership , the republican leadership of both houses , are they going to investigate that themselves ? 
that is like asking enron to investigate corporate ethics , baseball to investigate steroids , dick cheney to investigate energy policy . 
it just can not happen , and the american people know that . 
that is why , when they are asked on this question , 75 percent of the american people want a 9/11 commission . 
they want a 9/11 commission because they saw that the 9/11 commission was the only way that the citizens of this country were going to get the answers , not the answers the politicians wanted them to get , and that is what this bipartisan , phony committee is about . 
they want to give you the answers they want you to get . 
the citizens want the answers to the questions that they want to ask . 
the power in our democracy is with the citizens , and the citizens want a citizens ' committee . 
they want a citizens ' committee to answer these questions because the questions are going to have to be asked of a republican president , a republican congress , a democratic mayor , a democratic governor , a republican governor and that simply will not be able to be done . 
the president has said he takes responsibility . 
the question that must be asked is : did he act responsibly as the president of the united states to protect the people of this country ? 
so far , the question is a resounding , no . 
