Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Ranking Member Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., issued the following statement Friday on the Administration’s Nationwide Plan Review, Phase 2 Report:
“The conclusion of this report is not surprising. It is a conclusion we have known for some time and a conclusion Chairman Collins and I reached definitively after our investigation into the government’s preparations for and response to Hurricane Katrina. That is why we have proposed reinventing the Federal Emergency Management Agency so that it can respond effectively to a catastrophe. “We know the nation is unprepared for a catastrophe – at all levels of government. What we don’t know is what this Administration plans to do about it. Certainly, the Administration’s policy of reducing homeland security grants to states, including grants for emergency planning, is not the way. “I will also continue to work with Chairman Collins – by whatever means are available – to provide state and local officials with the funding and resources they need to develop systematic and coordinated plans for large scale catastrophes, such as Hurricane Katrina, or a terrorist attack.”