Compared To Katrina, Congress Notably Sluggish On Hurricane Maria Oversight

NEW ORLEANS - AUGUST 29: A man walks through a flooded neighborhood after Hurricane Katrina hit the area August 29, 2005 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Katrina was down graded to a category 4 storm as it approached New ... NEW ORLEANS - AUGUST 29: A man walks through a flooded neighborhood after Hurricane Katrina hit the area August 29, 2005 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Katrina was down graded to a category 4 storm as it approached New Orleans. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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In the weeks after Hurricane Katrina, the Republican-majority House churned out reports and set up bipartisan committees to investigate the Bush administration’s response to the storm. For Hurricane Maria, in which 70 percent more people died, there has been no such reaction.

According to a Sunday Politico report, there have been only two hearings by agencies with oversight of FEMA, and neither chamber of Congress has produced a report.

Democrats are now calling for an investigatory committee, and promising to set up one themselves if they win the House in the midterms.

Republicans reportedly deny accusations of inaction.

Read the full Politico report here.

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  1. Avatar for jmacaz jmacaz says:

    This is because the GOP is now the party of TRUMP who is treasonous. After Katrina, the GOP was the party of W, who may not have been the brightest bulb, but he was NOT treasonous

  2. Yeah, Dubya just started an unneeded war that’s still going.

  3. One reason why they are not investigating is fear of Trump and his Twitter attacks. Another reason is that they don’t see Puerto Ricans as “real” Americans, members of Congress won’t feel any backlash for their inactions is because Puerto Ricans can’t vote and therefore can’t hurt their re-election prospects.
    It should also go without saying that once they start then they’ll be expected to fix FEMA which is complicated and hard to do under their “free markets” approach to governing.

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