mr. speaker , following hurricane katrina there are many questions that must be answered . 
to answer them this body should create a bipartisan commission of experts to investigate the failures and flaws of the system just like we did after 9/11 , which i would like to remind my colleagues led to enactment of legislation that helped this country protect itself because the process had integrity . 
the enacting and recommended legislation also received bipartisan support . 
the purpose of a 9/11-like independent commission is not to fix blame , but to fix a problem . 
and what we are debating today is not sufficient because if it were truly bipartisan , it would be bipartisan from this point of origin . 
and the beginnings of this commission , or the beginnings of this select committee , do not bode well for what was intended as a bipartisan effort by both democrats and republicans to find out & lt ; center & gt ; & lt ; pre & gt ; [ page : h8029 ] & lt ; /pre & gt ; & lt ; /center & gt ; rather than debate a bipartisan commission , what we are debating today will amount to nothing more than a whitewash because of the long list of items that my colleague from california ( mr. waxman ) xz4004250 just mentioned . 
from the intelligence failures to the true cost of the prescription drug bill , all these missed opportunities were left purposefully and consciously , not looked into , not asked into . 
if you do not think you have a problem , you will not fix a problem . 
mr. speaker , hundreds have died , thousands have lost everything , billions will be spent rebuilding the infrastructure and people 's lives . 
the stakes are simply too high not to know what went wrong . 
look what happened today in the new york times . 
michael brown , the former head of fema , talked about where the louisiana governor failed , but also talked about where secretary chertoff failed . 
brown 's statement can probably be discounted somewhat as sour grapes , but recent stories by knightridder and others raised serious questions . 
knightridder raised questions about whether mr. chertoff delayed the federal response . 
memos were written to him , and according to a presidential directive , he had authority and control and did not act for over 36 hours and was nowhere to be found . 
while everyone has blamed mr. brown , it was mr. chertoff who was responsible for managing the national response plan according to the presidential directive . 
at the same time , an independent commission could monitor the contracts awarded during the reconstruction . 
already a disturbing trend has emerged of awarding no-bid contracts , reconstruction contracts , to politically connected firms . 
usa today points out many of these companies have been fined millions of dollars for overbilling the government during hurricane rebuilding efforts and other government projects . 
in fact , one company is fined a $ 3.2 million fine for what they overcharged during hurricane hugo . 
so the same cronyism that led to mr. brown 's appointment is now guiding the awarding of contracts to the rebuilding of new orleans . 
we need a 9/11-type commission , an independent commission , that basically takes the facts where they lead them , has the integrity of this body and the american people and the confidence so they can recommend the changes . 
because after 4 years from september 11 , what we saw and over the last 3 weeks is not the best of america in the sense of government 's response . 
we saw the best of america from the american people , and we now need a commission to make sure that we finally fix our response for when a natural disaster or other type of disaster hits this country . 
we need a bipartisan 9/11-style commission . 
