WASHINGTON, DC - House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (MD) released the following statement today in memory of the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

 

“Three years ago today, Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Louisiana coast. By the end of the storm, nearly 2,000 were killed, thousands and thousands more were left homeless, and tens of billions of dollars in damage had been sustained by our Gulf Coast. Today we pause to remember all those suffered so much in this natural disaster.

 

“But while natural disasters are unpreventable, man-made disasters surely are. And the Republican administration’s response to Katrina was surely that: a disaster of incompetence, unconscionable delay, and a shocking lack of urgency as the city of New Orleans and much of the Gulf Coast drowned. America deserves better than the cronyism that made that response possible.

“Today, the Gulf Coast’s recovery continues. I saw it first-hand last month, when I traveled there with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Whip James Clyburn, and other Congressional leaders But though progress has been made on recovery, houses remain gutted, infrastructure remains damaged, and New Orleans remains vulnerable to future storms. The Democratic Congress has provided substantial resources to speed the rebuilding, including $5.8 billion for levee construction and $73 million for public housing.

 

“Our thoughts are with the people of the Gulf Coast as they mark this somber anniversary and prepare for Tropical Storm Gustav.”