Press Releases
Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami
202-226-7616
08/28/2007
Pelosi: Congress Will Continue to Do Everything in Our Power to Help the People of the Gulf Coast
Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today on the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall in the Gulf Coast region, which is tomorrow, August 29:
“It says in the Bible that when there is injustice in the world, the poorest people and those with the least power, are injured the most. That was demonstrated two years ago, when Hurricane Katrina reached our shores and a natural disaster was compounded by a disaster of man. It has been the responsibility of people of conscience – particularly elected officials – to help right that injustice. That has been the work of Democrats in Congress for the survivors of both Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
“Democrats long promised the survivors of Katrina that we would do everything in our power to help them. When we gained the majority in January, we gained power to get to work on keeping our promises to the region. In just seven months, we have sent more than $6.4 billion to the region - $3 billion more than President Bush’s request - for significant initiatives such as helping schools recover, bolstering levees, and maintaining health facilities.
“We have waived the local matching requirement under the Stafford Act, saving the region $1.9 billion and allowing work to begin on 20,000 stalled projects. And we have held more than 30 hearings to ask the hard questions about the response to and recovery from Hurricane Katrina. Such oversight is essential to ensuring such a failed response never happens again.
“This month, when I joined a congressional delegation traveling to the