5/1/09 The Times-Picayune: Sen. David Vitter blocking Craig Fugate’s nomination as FEMA director
http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/05/sen_daivd_vitter_blocking_crai.html
Sen. David Vitter blocking Craig Fugate’s nomination as FEMA director
by Bruce Alpert, The Times-Picayune
Friday May 01, 2009, 5:47 PM
WASHINGTON — Craig Fugate’s presumed easy ride toward Senate confirmation as head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency hit a roadblock Friday in the form of Louisiana Republican Sen. David Vitter.
“I have a hold on the FEMA nomination because I sent a list of hurricane recovery questions and projects to FEMA, many of which have not been adequately addressed,” Vitter said. “I’m eager to get full responses and meet with the nominee immediately.”
Vitter’s hold came as a surprise just days after the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee endorsed Fugate’s nomination in a unanimous voice vote. Under Senate rules, a single senator may hold up a vote because the Senate considers most issues based on “unanimous consent” motions.
There was no immediate comment from Fugate, who has run Florida’s emergency management agency under two Republican governors and received good reviews from both GOP and Democratic lawmakers in the state. President Barack Obama called him the best person to lead a agency so vital to providing critical help during major disasters.
Vitter didn’t detail his concerns with Fugate, but staffers say one relates to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s designation of “high-velocity flood zones,” areas at high risk of flooding. Agency regulations bar FEMA from paying for new construction in such areas.
Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., who had publicly endorsed Fugate, said she’s glad Vitter’s hold was publicized “because when we all understand the problems with a particular nominee we can all work to address those issues.”
Landrieu said she shares “Sen. Vitter’s concerns regarding V-Zone flood maps, and I publicly questioned Mr. Fugate about this issue during his confirmation hearing last month.”
At his confirmation hearing, Fugate said FEMA must be “pragmatic in our decision making,” and that when a community is at risk and “we can move that community and minimize that risk to their lives and property in the future, we should achieve that.”
But he also said, “There are times when moving a community is not practical, and we should look at what are the potential options through engineering or other types of mitigation techniques.”
During his hearing, Fugate pledged that the agency would not repeat its failures during and immediately after Hurricane Katrina. FEMA was slow to respond to the severe flooding that stranded thousands of people in New Orleans under horrendous conditions, and it is blamed for bureaucratic and overly rigid interpretations of rules that slowed recovery.
“Although the media may use the failures of Katrina and Rita as a standard of measurement for judging the effectiveness of government, this standard does not, in my opinion, meet our sworn commitment to the American people,” Fugate said in written testimony to the Homeland Security Committee.
Ben Smilowitz, a former Red Cross volunteer during Hurricane Katrina and now head of the Disaster Accountability Project, said it’s a good thing Vitter is asking for more information. He said the Senate should insist on firm answers on how the agency plans to improve response to future disasters.
“The hearing did not set clear benchmarks for FEMA improvements that the public can monitor,” Smilowitz said. “The nation cannot afford a rubber-stamping of FEMA’s leader while the nation remains dangerously unprepared for hurricane season and other man-made and natural hazards.”
Hurricane season begins June 1.
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Bruce Alpert can be reached at balpert@timespicayune.com or 202.383.7861.