"Challenge to the Conscience of the Country"
Shelia Byrd, Associated Press - August 13, 2007
A key congressman reassured beleaguered teachers and school administrators Monday that Congress is working to speed recovery in the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast of Mississippi and Louisiana.House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn noted a House bill that would provide millions of dollars for affordable housing on the coast nearly two years after Hurricane Katrina. He also said the Democrat-led Congress would support removing the Federal Emergency Management Agency from the Department of Homeland Security.
Clyburn, D-S.C., spoke at DeLisle Elementary School after hearing Mississippi coast teachers and public school administrators complain about FEMA.
He is part of a 13-member congressional delegation led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on a two-day tour of areas still struggling to recover from Katrina. They are looking to tout progress made and determine where more federal help is needed.
Speaker Pelosi, later in the article:
Earlier Monday in New Orleans, Pelosi said Katrina and its aftermath were a "challenge to the conscience of the country in a huge way." She said Congress had responded but was "determined to get the job done."