Aid, Not Blame, Focus For La. Gov

(CBS/AP)  In a written statement, Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco called it "shocking" that former FEMA Director Michael Brown would tell Congress on Tuesday that the failures after Katrina were all her fault. She said she ordered New Orleans evacuated two days before Katrina hit and said Brown's testimony was "false and misleading."

But before a Senate committee Wednesday, CBS News correspondent Bob Fuss (audio) reports that she focused on the needs of her state.

"I'm here because the proposals you are considering are about creating jobs, and that's what we need. That's exactly what we need in the face of this massive suffering and heartbreak," Blanco said. "We need jobs to bring our people home."

Blanco called on Congress to enact the president's plan for a business enterprise zone in the Gulf Coast and go beyond it to help restore New Orleans.

"Thousands of Louisiana businesses have been destroyed or displaced, creating a potential tsunami of unemployment or suffering," Blanco said.

On Capitol Hill Tuesday, Brown blamed Blanco, the New Orleans mayor and even the Bush White House that appointed him for the response to Hurricane Katrina.

In response, lawmakers on the all-Republican panel alternately lambasted and mocked the former FEMA director, who has come to symbolize what went wrong with the federal government's response to the disaster.

Brown resigned Sept. 12 after being relieved of his onsite command of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's response effort three days earlier.

"I'm happy you left," said Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn. "Because that kind of, you know, look in the lights like a deer tells me that you weren't capable to do the job."

"You get an F-minus in my book," said Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss.

At several points, Brown turned red in the face and slapped the table in front of him.

"So I guess you want me to be the superhero, to step in there and take everyone out of New Orleans," Brown said.

"What I wanted you to do is do your job and coordinate," Shays said.

Well aware of President Bush's sinking poll ratings, legislators of both parties tried to distance themselves from the federal preparations for Katrina and the storm's aftermath that together claimed the lives of more than 1,000 people in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

"New Orleans was the city that FEMA forgot, the governor forgot, and the mayor just didn't take care of," Dr. Brobson Lutz, former city health director, told CBS News correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi.

Brown acknowledged making mistakes during the storm and subsequent flooding that devastated the Gulf Coast. But he accused New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Blanco, both Democrats, of fostering chaos and failing to order a mandatory evacuation more than a day before Katrina hit.

"My biggest mistake was not recognizing by Saturday that Louisiana was dysfunctional," Brown told a special panel set up by House Republican leaders to investigate the catastrophe.

Many in Congress feel FEMA needs more money, more equipment, a more autonomy than it now has under Homeland Security, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Orr — something that Brown seemed to confirm during the hearing.

• 1
• 2
• Next Page »