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 )  , 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 .  