The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last week overwhelmingly passed Committee Chairman Susan Collins and Ranking Member Joe Lieberman's Hurricane Katrina report and recommendations entitled Hurricane Katrina: A Nation Still Unprepared. This 737-page bipartisan report details specific findings on the mistakes made throughout the course of Hurricane Katrina, and offers systemic and structural changes to ensure that these failures are not repeated.
The most significant change calls for dissolving FEMA and replacing it with the National Preparedness and Response Authority, a distinct entity within the Department of Homeland Security, with a broader mandate, greater resources, more qualified leadership, and greater access to the White House than FEMA, to better prepare for and respond to national catastrophes. The report now awaits consideration by the full Senate.
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