and people died .  i think it is important .  i think it is important that mike brown hung around .  the president went down and told michael brown that he was doing a good job .  mr. speaker , people died .  i am not saying that he needs to wear that on his back , but the bottom line is somebody appointed him to that position with no experience whatsoever .  it is like me leaving this room , leaving this floor and saying to the gentleman from ohio ( mr. ryan )  , well , you know , i am going to carry out open heart surgery .  i know nothing about it , but i stayed in a holiday inn express last night .  you do not get qualifications based upon we need to fill a position , not a fema position .  that played around , and finally the administration took him out under pressure , not only pressure from the democratic leader but from the media who started focusing on him , saying things were going poorly because we still do not have good leadership there .  he came back to washington , and he resigned .  then we called for this 9/11 commission-like legislation to pass to make sure that this never happens again , never happens again .  not natural disasters , we have no control over that .  that is an act of god .  but when it comes down to governance and responsibility and making sure if you are poor , middle class or wealthy in this country that this government will govern on your behalf , and that did not happen .  the response to that request was we are going to put together a select committee , we are going to make sure that there is a majority influence on it as relates to the republican leadership side , and we will not get to the bottom of what happened .  will we have a lot of show and a lot of folks getting excited in the select committee ?  i am pretty sure they will have it .  but what i am saying , independent individuals , i am talking about people who understand emergency management , individuals who understand weather , regular citizens from the affected areas .  regular citizens were on the 9/11 commission , a democratic and republican appointment , co-chairs , to look at this and professionalize our response on all levels .  that will not happen , not right now .  i think it is important that the american people , members of congress , no matter what community you represent , if you believe in making sure that people get the same representation , for us to have a 9/11 commission , and i must add and say to the gentleman from ohio ( mr. ryan )  , and we come to the floor to talk about what we should be doing and how we should be doing it or what we are doing on this side of the aisle , it is important for us to know the facts .  this is the same congress in the majority that the 9/11 families came up here , and they voted down two opportunities to set up a 9/11 commission .  this is the same congress , until it just became overbearing that there were major mistakes in our intelligence , major mistakes and flags , and they are still finding stuff because of the 9/11 commission that could have saved lives .  better yet , we came to this floor , the 9/11 bill came to the floor , and we have better intelligence , better communications between federal , local and state agencies because of their work .  it is one of the best pieces of legislation that has passed this floor .  so now the difference between the 9/11 families and what has happened down in the south is the fact that these individuals are poor , that they are still in the recovery process , and they have not been heard from yet .  they have not been heard from .  i think it is important that we give those individuals voice .  i am not saying just democrats that are concerned about individuals that are affected in affected areas .  i am talking about members of congress giving them voice to allow them to not ever go through this again and also make sure that they do not become victims when we have contractors with no restraints , no-bid contracts .  they can run the tab up to whatever they can run it up to , and then the president is going to waive davis-bacon which allow the people in the recovery process to receive minuscule wages , not what they would ordinarily get from federal procured work .  i think it is important .  the differences : a , coming back here in session , it would have happened without hesitation if democrats were in the majority .  b , michael brown would have gone to another job long before because the pressure , and there probably would have been a vote to remove the director , putting pressure on the white house to get someone more qualified .  c , we would have a 9/11-type commission appointed today to start pulling itself together to do the work and make sure this never happened began .  d , the procurement issue , it would not be an issue because there would be proper oversight .  these are very serious issues .  the only reason i am saying democratic leadership versus republican leadership , because that is exactly the direction we are going in now .  the votes that are going down here are partisan votes , not votes on behalf of what we know .  we are not talking about a truman commission or something that happened 20 or 40 something years ago .  we are talking about a 9/11 commission that is still doing its work , and it is the same administration and the same majority side in congress .  i am asking for the members of this house on both sides of the aisle and for the american people not to give up on these poor people .  that is the bottom line .  do not give up on them .  they are not giving up on us .  the american people , community after community , are taking care of the evacuees , taking care of these americans , but we need to make sure that the government that they pay taxes to , that their children are fighting in a war for , making sure that they are not left behind because they do not have the economic means to be able to come up here to washington and say we want a commission , we want it now , we want to make sure this never happens for my husband , my neighbor , for my family , for a family member or just someone who is unrepresented in this process .  