Paulison: We're not the FEMA of 2005

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Some skeptical senators questioned Thursday whether the agency much maligned for its response to Hurricane Katrina is better prepared today to respond to another major hurricane season.

"I still continue to be frustrated by the apparent lack of urgency" within the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-Louisiana, told FEMA Director R. David Paulison at a hearing to assess the agency's reform efforts since the August 2005 storm.

"If we're hit by another catastrophic hurricane that causes similar flooding or displacement of a million people ... I'm not sure we are actually any better off today than we were 2½ years ago," Landrieu said.

Paulison defended his agency, saying "the FEMA of 2008 is not the FEMA of 2005," but agreed with Landrieu that the Stafford Act, a 1988 law that governs federal response to disasters, should be changed. Watch Paulison's hearing »

"The Stafford Act was a great document when it was put together. But it does not work, as you clearly know, in an event like a Katrina," he said. "It's too restrictive and you cannot do some of the innovative things you really want to do."

Landrieu's comments highlighted a hearing that started with a relatively upbeat assessment of FEMA's progress, as outlined in an inspector general's report, and concluded with Landrieu's grim assessment of how her community has fared since the storm.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Connecticut, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, opened by asking, "Is FEMA better prepared for a catastrophe now than it was in 2005? The answer that is given and the testimony that we'll hear today seems to be 'yes.' It may be a qualified yes, but it is a yes."

And he added, "If I may say, I appreciate FEMA's new attitude, which is, under chief Paulison, is, 'If it is legal and it will help someone, do it.' "

The report by the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general said FEMA showed "moderate" progress in five of nine areas in which it had previously been deemed lacking, "modest" progress in three others, and "limited" progress in one.

Paulison said some of the lower marks FEMA received were not deserved. "The IG [inspector general] recommends we assess where we are and where we need to be. We've been doing this since I joined FEMA two years ago," he said.

FEMA has worked to improve itself, he said, even while responding to 63 major disasters and 13 emergency presidential declarations in the past year alone.

Landrieu said she was pleased that FEMA had made some progress, but noted the agency did not achieve the highest rating of "substantial" progress in any category.

And her anger bubbled through when she began describing the effects of Katrina and the government's response to St. Bernard Parish, near New Orleans.

"Every home was destroyed in St. Bernard Parish," Landrieu said. "The entire parish went under water.

"The officials almost drowned in their building. The sheriff had to swim out of the second story of his building and save his deputies.

"After the water went down and the sun came up ... this was the federal government's response: 'When you can get your plan together ... tell us exactly how you want this parish rebuilt, then submit 15 copies of well-typed-out forms that can document everything you lost from pencils to screwdrivers to hammers, then after that, go find some money to rebuild it and we will reimburse you.'

"That is [the law] we are operating under today. So when I hear people criticize my people in St. Bernard, I don't think my people in St. Bernard could do anything wrong that would overshadow the idiocracy, the stupidity, the stupidness of that system."

Lieberman called Landrieu's comments passionate and eloquent, and said they showed that "we're still living with the painful consequences" of the hurricane and the government's inability to respond.

The inspector general said FEMA made "moderate progress" in the areas of overall planning, coordination and support, interoperable communications, logistics and acquisition management.

It said the agency made "modest progress" in the areas of evacuations, housing and disaster work force.

It gave its lowest ranking -- "limited progress" -- to the area of mission assignments. FEMA is responsible for coordinating disaster relief activities both inside FEMA and among other government agencies, but its policies have created misunderstandings among agencies concerning operational and financial responsibilities, the report said.

At Thursday's Senate hearing, Paulison also said FEMA will no longer provide ice at disaster scenes. "We're not in the ice business anymore," he said, noting it is not a life-saving commodity for most people.

FEMA was widely criticized for transporting large amounts of ice long distances at steep costs after Katrina, only to have much of the ice go unused. E-mail to a friend

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