of course . 
and that is in section 5 of the joint operations . 
but let me just say this . 
if there was an equal 50-50 power on the committee , then , obviously , there would be time for compromise . 
okay , if you want to subpoena this witness , we want to subpoena that witness , and let us just compromise . 
even though we do not fully agree , we will get our members to vote for it . 
but let me just say this . 
i think that it is important for us to remember that this is not the only battle as it relates to making sure that this never , ever happens again , especially after a 9/11 bill passed through , homeland security given all this authority , fema having the resources to pre-stage the equipment and to be able to move in for it to ever happen again . 
whether it is something the governor did not do in mississippi or louisiana or alabama , or something that the mayor did not do in the town , wherever it may be , gulfport , new orleans , what have you , we have to get to the bottom of it . 
americans are pouring their hearts out and their money out , and we are using their taxpayer dollars to send down to the affected areas , and rightfully so , without the proper oversight and without any real congressional review . 
if a member of congress wanted to go down and see exactly what the federal response was , you can not go on what we call a congressional visit , go down there on a codel . 
no , you can not . 
you have to find your own way down . 
good luck , charlie . 
you find your own way down there . 
catch a bus if you can , or hitch a ride with a friend , or take money out of your own pocket and go . 
i happened to get down there on the relief flight taking food and necessities down . 
that is how i got into the affected area . 
the american people can take it for what it is . 
this is a coordinated campaign . 
unfortunately , i do not believe it as a campaign , i see it preventing lives in the future from being lost . 
i can not help but look at exactly what is going on . 
u.s. news and world report , `` what went wrong ? 
`` we will never know . 
another edition , u.s. news and world report , `` who screwed up ? 
`` we will never know . 
newsweek , `` poverty , race , katrina , lessons of a national shame. '' we will never learn because the majority does not want to learn . 
some may be saying that the 30 something working group , they are on the floor are talking about the majority party 's failings with regards to leading and this national tragedy . 
this is not an issue of being partisan . 
this is an issue of telling the truth . 
the bottom line is we always talk about what would be different if we were in the majority . 
well , the democratic leader , the gentlewoman from california ( ms. pelosi ) xz4003140 , recommended with the council of ranking members said , let us come back from our break and go into session and give fema what it needs to be able to respond to this national tragedy . 
number one , it is a shame that fema was out of money . 
what did they say ? 
the house leadership said , no , we will be back ; do not worry about it . 
a day later , the president got called out on it . 
time was awasting . 
that means maybe fema did not have what it needed to be able to respond to people stuck in the superdome and in shelters . 
and in mississippi , where i went , in hancock county , they had sanctioned looting . 
it was sanctioned because they had no food and no water . 
it was not a situation where they said , fine , electricity is off , we do not have a lot of law and order going on , so we are going to go into this store and take things . 
these are individuals who work every day . 
second point , the democratic leader said we need to make sure that we have a fema director that knows what he is doing . 
this one does not . 
he needs to step down . 
because , obviously , if he was there the day before the storm and his administration was there before the storm and they watched this come in , knowing what the national weather center has done , and i am speaking from fact . 
i went down to miami , just south of my district in miami , and met with the director of the hurricane center last friday . 
he was here before the committee on science this week and testified . 
he told the officials that the levees would break . 
a category 4 or category 5 storm , they will break , so it was not secret . 
he called the mayor of new orleans on saturday night before the storm and said , mr. mayor , your levees potentially will break . 
the mayor put out the order early sunday morning , mandatory evacuation . 
we knew there would be massive flooding from the simulation pattern a year prior to this storm . 
the officials all knew . 
they knew within fema . 
the state and city folks knew . 
the levee board knew . 
