Lawmakers question federal role in hurricane response

At the first in a planned series of hearings on the response to Hurricane Katrina, several Republicans on the House Government Reform Committee warned a panel of local officials against counting on the federal government for immediate help.

"You have to be your first line of defense," Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., told the witnesses. The panel, convened by committee chairman Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., to discuss lessons learned from Katrina included officials from Los Angeles, Washington and Broward County, Florida, as well as a former mayor of New Orleans.

Emergency response is more effective when directed from the bottom up, with leadership at the state and local levels, said Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, R-Ga. "If you couldn't learn that from watching TV, you may have to rethink," he said.

After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, for instance, New York City officials were on hand to offer help and reassurance to residents, Westmoreland said. That approach worked well, he said.

Americans should not look to the federal government to solve every problem, said Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C. Local officials are responsible for the initial response to hurricanes and other disasters, she said. It's a "very big mistake," she said, to give citizens the impression that the federal government plays the role of first responder.

But committee Democrats said this understates federal responsibilities. Disasters the size of Katrina will overwhelm state and local officials, said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md. The federal government, he argued, must be ready to step in and execute emergency plans laid out on paper. "Let's not kid ourselves," he said.

Van Hollen called for the creation of a bipartisan commission, similar to the one created after Sept. 11, to investigate overall response to the hurricane.

"We've been planning for decades," said Rep. Diane Watson, D-Calif. "[It] should be clear to most Americans that we have serious problems with our federal response mechanism."

Committee Democrats also expressed frustration with the makeup of the panel, which included only local officials and academics. With the exception of the former mayor of New Orleans, none of the witnesses had specific knowledge of what went wrong during Katrina, Democrats said.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., said she was disappointed that Davis called a hearing to investigate the response to Katrina, but failed to include any federal officials on the witness panel. She urged Davis to subpoena former Federal Emergency Management Agency officials, including ex-director Michael Brown, if necessary.

Davis said he tried to get Brown to testify. He added the committee did not want to distract officials from the relief efforts, but will be sending a delegation of three Democrats and three Republicans to the affected area on Sunday.