Joe Lieberman on FEMA

"FEMA has become, to many people in America, and particularly the Gulf Coast, a joke, a four-letter word," said Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., and a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

He favored keeping the agency within the Homeland Security Department. FEMA was independent before it was folded into Homeland Security when the department was created after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"It’s time for FEMA to go and to build something better, stronger within DHS to take its place," Lieberman said.

Fair enough. 

Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said he favored making FEMA a Cabinet department.

Davis said FEMA should not be competing for dollars within a department concerned with prevention as well as response, said Davis, who appeared with Lieberman on ABC’s "This Week."

Again, fair enough.  Makes some sense.

Somewhere in there Yahoo implies Lieberman wants this restructuring done before the next hurricane season.  In light of the ongoing changes within DHS, I want to know how he plans on re-structuring an agency that is still dealing with the changes brought on several years ago?  These agencies are massive, complex structures that tie into every single local community.  You can’t just snap your fingers and magically have a new better one in place.  I don’t want snap decisions and actions.  I want a better response, but I want the changes required done in a calculated progressive fashion that does not undermine the ability of FEMA to do its assigned responsibility now.  Hurricanes are not the ONLY responsibility of FEMA. And, simply making them an animal with a different label will not make them any better.  The best thing that can happen to FEMA is a good response to a disaster without political posturing affecting their actions.  Until that happens ( don’t hold your breath ), FEMA will always be the scapegoat of political opportunists.  More went right for FEMA than what went wrong in New Orleans.  Let’s just fix what went wrong and quit attempting to paint the entire agency something it’s not ( a four letter word ).

For what it’s worth, I know Lieberman’s been around long enough to know how complex this issue is.  For that reason, I think he’s just pandering.

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  • http://fleshlight.tumblr.com/ Latosha Fleshlight

    I think its funny how everyone here is so quick to jump on the illegal “Mexicans” that are in this country. What about ALL the Asian’s that are here illegally? I do agree that we need immigration reform but for ALL illegal immigrants not just pick and choose. For those who say we need the jobs for “hard-working Americans”, well they are more than welcome to go out to the fields, deal with heat or freezing cold and pick the fruit and vegetables that we all eat on a daily basis. However, a lot of those crying are the ones sitting on their butts collecting welfare. No one has to agree with me, this is just MY OPINION

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