Mr. Speaker, in the aftermath of the two hurricanes,

Katrina and Rita, the question comes up, how do we evaluate the Federal response and how do we learn from the events of the past 4 weeks? How do we protect our country going forward?

There are some in this body who have called for a special commission to conduct that inquiry, a special commission as opposed to a congressional inquiry. But I believe that Congress not only has the duty, I believe Congress has the constitutional obligation to undertake that process. In fact, Mr. Speaker, this is one job that is too important for the other side to outsource.

In order for this to work, that is a Congressional inquiry, it is going to require participation from both sides of the aisle. It is not healthy for the country for one side to stand on the sidelines and point fingers.

And what about a special commission? Well, we saw that with the 9/11 Commission. Their former commission spokesman said that he could not evaluate the information on Able Data because the information provided did not mesh with the conclusions that they were drawing.

I submit, Mr. Speaker, it is appropriate for Congress to do this investigation and I look forward to the result.



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