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Lawmakers will have their first chance to grill former Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Brown next week about the government's sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina, House Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis, R- Va., said Wednesday.

Davis added that a select panel approved by the House last week to investigate the rescue and relief efforts will hold its first public hearing Thursday -- with or without Democrats.

"I think there is a feeling that [Americans] don't want us to sit and wait" for GOP and Democratic leaders to reconcile their differences, he said.

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, and ranking member Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., who were tapped by their leaders to head the Senate's investigation, already have held hearings. It is unclear whether they will attend the inaugural meeting of the select committee.

House and Senate leaders are working on a deal to combine the investigations. GOP leaders are expected to name House Republicans to the bipartisan panel on Wednesday. Two committee chairmen, one member from the Gulf Coast area and mostly rank-and-file lawmakers with expertise on the issues will comprise the GOP side, Davis said. He added that if Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., still refuses to assign Democrats to the panel by the end of the week, he would invite Democratic members from the Gulf Coast region to question Brown at Tuesday's meeting.

"I would hope they wouldn't pass up the opportunity to cross-examine Michael Brown," Davis said.

Pelosi was unwavering Wednesday, according to a spokeswoman, who reiterated comments Pelosi made last week that Democrats could represent their regions and ask questions, but as leader her job is to ensure they have "the strongest possible voice." She and other Democrats have called the select panel a sham, arguing Republicans cannot objectively investigate the Bush administration. Democrats also are seeking equal representation on the panel and subpoena power. House Republicans would have an 11-9 advantage and possess the authority to call witnesses.

Davis said he was "mystified" that Pelosi has argued that the House Government Reform Committee should conduct oversight hearings but balked at the select committee. He argued Democrats would have more authority and greater representation on the select committee than on the Government Reform panel, which has 23 Republicans and 18 Democrats.

Also, Davis said, he must obtain member approval on the select panel to subpoena witnesses, a process he can bypass as Government Reform chairman.

Davis said Republicans will launch their investigation Thursday with officials from the National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center. The hearing will focus on the chronology of hurricane data and then move to the communication failures, with Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff and state and local officials on the list of witnesses for future hearings.

COMMENTS

• Everything needed was in place. One more time just for you: Everything needed was in place. Apparently you could not see the city and school buses with space to carry 125,000 people without their own transportation out of New Orleans (this was in the city’s official disaster plan) doesn’t mean it isn’t true. The Mayor (liberal democrat) failed to call for a mandatory evacuation in a timely manner. The Governor (liberal democrat) refused to allow federal responders in at first. And over half of the non evacuated people interviewed admitted that they would not have left anyway. It takes a lot of spin and twist to push blame to the President (conservative, but not in the traditional way, republican). I understand that your hatred blinds you from the truth and your main objective is to try and shift blame away from liberals or democrats and on to conservatives or republicans. The conservatives and republicans do enough stupid things on their own you don’t have to blame them for the things the democrats do wrong. I’m all for getting rid of corporate welfare and actually shutting off the government money flow to all special interest groups be they liberal conservative left or right. Of course this would require people to take some responsibility for themselves. It would also let people keep more of the money they earn which they could give to the groups they want to support. Or if they don’t like any groups they can keep the money for themselves. After all, they should have the right to decide what their money should support, not the special interest groups that manipulate the government. Your only way to change how the "required" government resources like the military are used is to get a majority of people to vote and push that direction. I'm not behind Pres Bush's agenda but if Gore and Kerry are the best democrats can put forward they deserved to lose. GovExec.com reader Posted September 30, 2005 4:59 PM
• Dear Hater, People did not demand it – it was pushed through Congress on a wave of hate and fear mongering that the GOP is so skilled at spreading. That’s why we got Hussein and not Bid Laden. Like when they milked 9/11 relentlessly and used hate and fear to falsely justify the invasion of Iraq and to diminish the Constitution. They used hate and fear to rush through National Security Personnel System, even though portions of the Homeland Security Department’s similar personnel system have been determined to be illegal. Everything needed to get out of this problem was in place? What a load of crap. I bet you still believe in the Tooth Fairy and that storks bring babies. Who are you to lecture anyone about needing to take responsibility because the GOP never does. Bush only stepped up to the plate because his ratings fell through the floor. Self-preservation, nothing more. Bush should be blamed because he has appointed so many unqualified cronies to the heads of vital organizations. There’s no way they would be able to respond to another terrorist attack. Their answer to every problem is to write another blank check to Halliburton. Corporate welfare -- which has exploded during the past five years -- is worse than welfare for poor people. Poor people need help; multimillionaires with off-shore businesses to avoid paying taxes, don’t. GovExec.com reader Posted September 29, 2005 8:05 AM
• What a typically liberal total misrepresentation of the facts. The manmade threat has been increasing for many years, mostly since the fall of the Soviet Union. During Bush Sr. little had started and little was done. During Clinton the terrorists increased activity dramatically but almost nothing was done about it. Bush Jr. might have been as worthless as Clinton if 9/11 had not forced the issue. Bush has certainly made things safer than they would be without the changes. Personally I don’t like trading freedom for safety but the overwhelming majority of the country demanded it. No matter what you say the federal response is setup to be days or weeks after the local and state first responders. To have federal first response available in every local area would not only duplicate what the local government is supposed to do but the cost would also be so large and the bureaucracy so dense as to scare even a below average head up your butt liberal. Everything needed to get out of this problem (busses to carry 125,000 people without their own transportation) was in place but the liberal democrat Mayor did not do what he was supposed to. And the liberal democrat Governor did not do what she was supposed to do. Should blame be passed to others because one is a liberal black and the other is liberal female? Do you think Bush should be blamed because he is a conservative white male? People should take some small amount of responsibility for themselves. Unless you are one of the many liberal bigots who want the government to do everything because you think the people involved are too stupid to be responsible for themselves just because most of them are minorities. That is a very narrow minded hateful way to think. GovExec.com reader Posted September 28, 2005 4:19 PM