madam speaker , calling this partisan republican scheme `` bipartisan '' reminds me of those tinhorn dictators who attempt to mask their authoritarian regimes by calling their countries `` democratic . 
we need an independent citizens commission like the 9/11 commission to explore the failures of every level and every branch of government . 
the administration and its house republican cohorts oppose this independent citizens commission just as they opposed the 9/11 commission and just as the administration erected roadblocks to that commission 's work at every turn . 
i say to them : save the stonewall to rebuild the levees . 
with thousands stranded , this administration would not lead , and now it wants its buddies in the congress to lead the cover-up . 
as with the formation of the 9/11 commission , if enough americans get informed and demand a genuine , independent investigation , we can end this republican charade . 
our safety demands real accountability . 
with such incompetence and indifference , what reason is there to believe that what we have witnessed might not happen in our own backyard , that the fate of those we saw in new orleans would not be the fate of other people , be they poor folks in the rio grande valley from hurricane , flooding or any other disaster , be it human-caused or natural or both ? 
without knowing objectively what , why , and how the rescue mission failed , there is no way to ensure that the horror that we have seen would not be repeated in our own communities . 
there is nothing to prevent these folks from having all of the congressional investigations , all of the budget hearings that they want to have . 
what we are asking for today is that you not have a sham `` bipartisan '' commission . 
you bring in the citizens from around the country and have the kind of independent inquiry that led to a best-selling book , by the 9/11 commission . 
we owe it to the dead , to the displaced , to all who could become the next victims of a catastrophe to support a true and genuine , independent inquiry . 
