Congressional Record—Senate S10205
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September 20, 2005 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S10205 ought to be to work together and reconstruction effort is headed and who The Wall Street Journal article went march together toward a common goal. is in charge. Several published reports on to say: I yield the floor. say the person heading up the adminis- The first large-scale contracts awarded to The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The tration’s Katrina rebuilding project is Hurricane Katrina, as in Iraq, were awarded Senator from Illinois. none other than Karl Rove, the Presi- without competitive bidding, using so-called Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask to dent’s long-time political director. ‘‘cost-plus’’ provisions that guarantee con- be given 10 minutes from the Demo- That is an incredible suggestion—that tractors certain profits regardless of how cratic morning business and that I be Karl Rove will have responsibility for much they spend. notified when I have consumed 9 min- the Katrina reconstruction effort, the It turns out that not only are there utes of the 10. No. 1 politician, the No. 1 political op- no-bid contracts, but coincidentally The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The erative in the White House. Have we they happen to be going to the clients Senator will be notified. learned nothing? of Joe Allbaugh. Remember that name? f Consider what happened when I mentioned him earlier. He was the Katrina struck. FEMA was not there. President’s political campaign director HURRICANE KATRINA Michael Brown is now gone. But how in Texas who became the head of Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, last Fri- did he get in a position to be in charge FEMA and who left to be a consultant, day, I joined 13 of my colleagues and of FEMA? It was because of political and is now making certain that his cli- went to view the devastation of Hurri- connections. He didn’t have the experi- ents get $100 million no-bid contracts. cane Katrina in New Orleans, LA, and ence. He didn’t have the resume. He When is this going to end? When are Mississippi, It was a sight which I will didn’t have the skills needed when he we going to have true accountability? never forget. This great bustling city faced the greatest natural disaster in Once again, we see the same names of New Orleans is now a ghost town our history. What was his claim to this coming out of Hurricane Katrina—Hal- with hardly any activity other than a job to head FEMA? His claim was he liburton, Kellogg, Brown & Root—the few people returning to their homes was a college roommate of Joe names of Joe Allbaugh’s clients who trying to retrieve lost treasures left be- Allbaugh, who happened to be the are, once again, coming up with these hind from the flood—trying to put President’s Chief of Staff and campaign contracts. their lives back together by gathering director in Texas who, when he left the If it wasn’t bad enough, this morn- all of this water-laden debris and toss- FEMA agency to become a consultant, ing’s Washington Post, on the front ing it outside in the hopes they might turned it over to Michael Brown, his page, tells the story of a Bush official save their structures. college roommate, to take over—this arrested in a corruption probe. It says: little daisy chain of politicians who We then went over to Mississippi The Bush administration’s top Federal pro- where it was a stunning scene in vil- played out with disastrous incom- curement official resigned Friday and was lage and community and town after petence when Katrina struck. arrested yesterday, accused of lying and ob- town—to see subdivisions that have Now this administration, instead of structing a criminal investigation into Re- been wiped away, to look down at what moving away from the politicians to publican lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s dealings appeared to be 50 concrete slabs and to the professionals when it comes to re- with the Federal Government. It was the see no evidence of debris but evidence building, has decided that Karl Rove is first criminal complaint filed against a gov- of destruction, all gone, scoured from going to be in charge—the same Karl ernment official in the ongoing corruption probe related to Abramoff’s activities in the Earth by these horrible hurricane Rove who, just a few weeks ago in a po- litical speech, said the Democrats Washington. winds and waves which consumed some The complaint, filed by the FBI, alleges of these communities. didn’t share the Republicans’ zeal for that David H. Safavian, 38, a White House A man in Pass Christian in Mis- stopping the war on terrorism; the procurement official involved until last week sissippi told us of the panic that set in same Karl Rove who won’t give us in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, made re- when the remaining villagers went to straight answers when it comes to his peated false statements to government offi- the library with hurricane-proof win- role in revealing the identity of cials and investigators about a golf trip with dows, believing they might be safe, and Valarie Plame, an undercover CIA op- Abramoff to Scotland in 2002. then, as a 28-foot wave hit this library, erative, which disclosure of her iden- The top official in the White House thinking they all might drown right tity not only endangered her life but that was in charge of procurement in- there in that building at that moment. the lives of many other career employ- volved in the Katrina effort not only I can’t imagine what that was like. I ees; the same Karl Rove who inciden- resigned but was arrested for mis- can’t imagine what it was like for so tally will take his mind off of the leading the Federal Government in many who went through this dev- Katrina reconstruction effort long terms of his involvement with the Re- astating experience. Some are trying enough to go to North Dakota on this publican lobbyists. to come to grips with their future and Saturday night for a big political rally. Now the administration comes out there lives. Is this the person we want in charge and says they found just the person to The President came to the American of $60 billion or $100 billion in recon- look into the mistakes of Hurricane people last week at Jackson Square in struction funds? I hope not. I hope the Katrina. It is a woman by the name of New Orleans and made a speech which President reconsiders. Frances Townsend. I do not know her. This is a troubling admission—that I think will be important for genera- She may be a very competent indi- this administration doesn’t have lead- tions to come. I was asked to react to vidual. But how in the world can we ership to turn to in time of crisis, if get to the truth of the question as to it, and I said I think the President has the best the President can find is his what went wrong with Hurricane given us an agenda that we have to fol- political adviser, Karl Rove, to deal Katrina? How can we really hope to low—to rebuild the gulf coast, to re- with the disaster of Katrina. build the lives and the communities. What have we seen so far? The Wall discover the incompetence that led to But I believed then, and I believe now, Street Journal said last week: all of this human suffering and devas- that the President’s call for this unity The Bush administration is importing tation if the administration is going to as a nation and this community of car- many of the contract practices blamed for investigate itself? ing also has to be called for fiscal re- spending abuses in Iraq as it begins the larg- We know from 9/11 that the only way sponsibility and accountability. We est and costliest rebuilding effort in United we got to the heart of the matter, the have to rebuild the gulf coast and help States history. critical questions about what went Katrina victims rebuild their lives. It We know what happened in Iraq—no- wrong on 9/11, was with an independent, is in our national interest. It is part of bid contracts to Halliburton and the nonpartisan commission. Yet this ad- our national character. We rally as buddies of this administration, con- ministration resisted the efforts of Americans to help our fellow Ameri- tracts that have never been inves- that 9/11 commission being created and cans. tigated by this Congress. And here they today resists the efforts of an inde- But I have a real concern. Instead of go again with Katrina and with Karl pendent, nonpartisan commission to the ‘‘Big Easy,’’ people are getting a Rove keeping his watchful eye on what look into what went wrong with Hurri- big uneasy feeling about where Katrina is being done. cane Katrina. VerDate Aug 31 2005 23:51 Sep 20, 2005 Jkt 039060 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G20SE6.004 S20SEPT1 S10206 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 20, 2005 The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. lege have a chance to get back in a col- we have another hurricane that is try- VITTER.) The Senator has 1 minute re- lege or a university to continue their ing to round the corner in Key West maining. studies without losing a quarter or a today—to make sure if this comes Mr.