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House Democrats are stepping up the pressure for an independent commission to investigate the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina through a legislative maneuver known as a discharge petition.

As the former Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown testified before a special House committee chaired by Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., Democrats in the House leadership condemned the hearing as a Republican whitewash of what they maintain was a colossal failure of the Bush administration to coordinate government agencies in responding to the Katrina disaster.

Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., ranking member of the House Rules Committee, said that the Republicans in Congress are incapable of investigating the Republican-run federal agencies.

The federal response was "not only frightening ... but embarrassing to all of us," Slaughter said. "This is not a Congress that investigates anything."

Joining Slaughter in the announcement of the discharge petition were Reps. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., chairman of the Democratic Caucus, and Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee.

The petition, with 218 signatures, would force a House floor vote on legislation (H.R. 3764) that would create a 9/11-style panel to examine how federal agencies dealt with the aftermath of the Gulf Coast disaster.

Members of the defunct 9/11 panel were divided earlier this month over the need for an independent commission modeled on their own. Some argued that the events surrounding the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina were not as complex as those leading up to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and that a congressional inquiry would be sufficient. Others said that an independent panel is necessary for an accurate rendering of agency actions leading up to and following the hurricane's landfall.

In a statement released Tuesday morning in concert with the discharge petition announcement, Davis, chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, said that the panel -- the House Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina -- will be "tough and thorough."

"I do not believe we should outsource our congressional oversight responsibility," Davis said. "[A] commission would take months to set up and an eternity to finish its work. We will begin now while evidence and memories are fresh."

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said last week that she would not assign anyone from her party to serve on Davis' commission. Nevertheless, two Democrats including Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana participated as noncommittee members in Tuesday's questioning of the former FEMA director.

COMMENTS

• Why is FEMA's response to the hurricane of the century any more "frightning and embarrassing" than the Social Security Administration's pathetic handling of benefits for senior citizens and the disabled? People are dying while waiting. Lawyers are cashing in. What about the horrendous mismanagement of resources by the Defense Department when we desparately need new school buildings and housing for the homeless. There are people in this country who are starving, who can't afford medicine and who live in fear for their lives. What about the decades long mismanagement of the Veterans Administration? I am not excusing FEMA's incompetance. They screwed up for certain. But, I am getting disgusted with our Congressional Representatives who use every opportunity to play partisan politics when our whole government is in trouble. Our elected officials have a lot more responsibility for this mess than they let on. I wish they would just do their damned jobs for a change. Frightning and embarrasing better describes how other governments view ours. Robert M. Posted September 28, 2005 6:51 PM
• The Democrats do not want the truth. They have spun this into being Bush’s fault even though FEMA is an after local response and state request for additional help group. Most of the blame should go to the New Orleans Mayor and the Louisiana Governor, but they are liberal Democrats. So as part of the quota system, blame must be passed to a conservative white male. GovExec.com reader Posted September 28, 2005 4:29 PM
• Like the Democrats would have done what????? They had 2 in LA. and they didn't do real well! 1000 folks died in a heat wave in Chicago not to long ago. What did the Dumacrats do then? mike kelley Posted September 28, 2005 12:36 PM