Craig Fugate, FEMA Nominee, Blocked By David Vitter

McClatchy:

A Louisiana senator is stalling Florida emergency management director Craig Fugate's nomination as head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency .

Read the whole story: McClatchy

Comments

[LeeCalif]

Senator Vitter wants American taxpayers to keep footing the bill to repair & insure damages that occur when greedy & irresponsible people continue to build in areas that SHOULD NOT BE BUILT IN.

So each time a natural disaster occurs, those areas are damaged and Vitter thinks we taxpayers should continue to pay for someone else's poor decisions.

There are HOMEOWNERS who cannot afford to move. They should receive assistance to move.
NO BUSINESSES..

[Victorinox]

There's opposition, there's obstructionism, then there's the current GOP. They are blocking nominees to non-partisan positions, like Veteran Affairs, FEMA, and HHS. They want to politicize government agencies even though they aren't in power.

[SharpDressedMan]

The GOP practiced obstructionism even when they were in power such during Clinton's years. During Bush 41's term, it was called gridlock. Bush 43 went beyond politicizing government agencies, he appointed theocrats. Case in point, Monica Goodling.

[SharpDressedMan]

Louisiana and other coastal states affected by erosion are not well served. Coastal erosion is a bona fide issue but David Vitter is anything but that.

The levee system channeled silt deposits from Ole Man River further out into the Gulf and weakened old parts of the Delta. That can't be reversed.

Another main cause of the decades long erosion is oil and gas companies cutting and dredging through coastal marshes to install rigs, platforms and pipelines. The Intracoastal Waterway and marine vessel traffic increased coastal erosion by sailing too quickly. Waves created by vessels ate up coastal land.

Restoring this lost land will take decades because it's a natural process, one that can't happen without the cooperation of oil and gas companies.

Who will pass the necessary laws to prevent any further erosion and restore lost wetlands? Not Vitter. He is damaged goods and he won't rock the GOP boat. His recent blocking of Craig Fugante's nomination is nothing more than political grandstanding.

[notAMoron]

If you read the article it explains why he opposes Fugate and Mary Landrieu agrees with him but this disagreement is not enough for her to oppose the nominee. As someone who lives in New Orleans I can explain it to ya'll.

FEMA will not pay for projects in areas that are designated as a high velocity flood zone.
Louisiana's coast and wetlands needs to be restored so that New Orleans and many other cities can be protected from the most devastating effects of hurricanes.
Louisiana's coast and wetlands are designated as a high velocity flood zone.
Therefore FEMA will not help us restore our wetlands and our coast so we can protect our city and our state from hurricanes.

The current mechanisms available from the federal government to get federal support for coastal restoration takes about 20-40 years to get the money through the system. We don't have that long and this person would be a roadblock to that goal.

Please don't confuse this with petty political bickering, there is a real environmental issue which impacts Vitter's consituents more than anyone else in the country at stake here.

[Cinnamonape]

Just wondering. Did Vitter block Brownies nomination? Or his replacement? Using the same argument? Restoration of the coastline would have been great then as well...and surely Vitter would have had more influence on Bush. Did he support the retrofitting of pumps in NO? Was he bird-dogging the government on this all then way for the last eight years?

And did Vitter support either the stimulus package or the budget...which would have been the major sources for precisely such funding projects. Why is is demanding Federal spending on projects that he refuses to then pay for?

Lastly, did Vitter encourage the Governor of the state of Louisiana to retract that statement about Volcano monitoring? It seems that if catastrophic emergency project funding is important...it's important for ALL states subject to natural disasters.

If he did "all of the above"...then I can see he has some moral standing on this. Otherwise it smells like he's simply playing the role of "Dr. No".

[notAMoron]

Vitter only made it into the senate in 2005, I think Brownie was already in charge of FEMA at that time. I would say that all of the congressional reps we have had from this state, with the exception of Bill Jefferson, have done a great job in working together to get help for rebuilding and recovery in the past 3.5 years. They have worked together in a very constructive and coordinated fashion.

I didn't mention anything else about the other things you talked about, but, I am personally upset by how convoluted and unfocused so many of the bills that have come out of Washington for the past 20 years have been. We are seeing trillion dollar bills rolled out that are just candy jars of 1000 pet projects with very little if any relation to one another. Both parties are guilty of it. Why can't we have 1000 short focused bills that approve funding for each discrete project and let them vote on each one on its own merits. Instead they name a bill something like "2007 We Support Our Troops Bill" load it with all kinds of BS and run advertisments saying, "Senator So-and-so doesn't support our troops."

[Cinnamonape]

And actually...reading the article...it clearly states that Vitter wants a relaxation of the rules on CONSTRUCTION. That's not environmental mitigation­...marshla­nd restoration and other environmentally important projects. I seriously doubt that FEMA has regulations that prevent such activities, particularly if they mitigate future flooding or storm surges. But putting in another casino, or a coastal resort...that impacts the environment detrimentally.

[notAMoron]

Construction is not building a wal-mart in the swamp.

It is building structures to close up navigation channels that allowed salt-water intrusion.

Pumps to divert the silt, which is dredged from the Mississippi river and currently discharged into the Gulf by the army corps of engineers, into the wetlands where it would be going if the man didn't try to control the river and prevent river flooding.

The Dutch have accomplished one of the greatest feats of engineering in the history of mankind in protecting their sensitive and vast coast from flooding and through the delta works, a serious of storm surge barriers and levees and we need a similar system to protect the louisiana coast and it does require a great deal of construction to accomplish.

Our state is one of the only ones with huge building boom because we are in the process of laying the ground work and paying for this out of our own pockets and within the limits of the LA constitution which prohibits deficit spending.

[SharpDressedMan]

Vitter's political career is finished. To the GOP he is just a pawn as long as he votes along the partly line.

Vitter will be up for re-election in 2010. If Louisianian voters care about their image and their state, they will vote him out of office.

[LooktotheLeft]

"If Louisianian voters care about their image and their state"....w/ all due respect, you must be joking.

[SharpDressedMan]

Some Louisianians care but not enough so I accept your point.

[Nonamnesiac]

This is more hocus pocus gobbledygook. Holds can be easily overridden. They do not exist in the Constitution and there are no requirements for unanimity with respect to appointments. Sometimes holds are honored and sometimes they are overridden.

But it is in both parties interests to create hocus pocus rules to convince the American people that there are obscure rules of parliamentary procedure that force a House of Congress to bar popular action. So they create these fictions -- the HOLD or -- You-Need-6­0-Votes-to­-Pass-Popu­lar-Legisl­ation. So what happens? The Inheritance Tax becomes more protective of wealth despite the fact there are nearly 60 Democratic Senators -- mortgage reform that benefits those who have difficulty paying their mortgagtes in a bad economy that partially went south because they were suckered by predatory lending practices doesn't pass despite the fact there are nearly 60 Democrats -- EFCA can't pass even if there are 60 Democratic Senators -- no single-payer, free universal health care despite 60 Democrats even though lack of free, quality, single payer universal health care makes our businesses uncompetitve, and on and on.

And the media and the two parties try to sell it by talking about "holds" and "60 votes".

Give me a break.

[2garen]

Did Vitter question Good job Brownie the same way? Let us compare the questions he had for Brownie.

[PhilipTaylor]

Will they become the Party of Pizza to Hide their Support for Wall Street?

The Party of NO FEMA Director because only we know how to Run FEMA!
The Party of NO Regulations on Wall Street Greed, Hedge Fundsters, and Toxic Assets!
The Party of NO limit on Interest Rates Not even 35%! Ask Senator Durbin about Bank Power!
The Party of NO Spector!
The Party of NO Pandemic EVER!
The Party of NO Home Mortgage Relief! Unless its your second to tenth Home!
The Party of NO reform of Health Care Ever!
The Party of Welfare to the Corporate Elites!
The Party of "SURE FAIL TRICK&TRAP" Mortgage Derivatives!
The Party of Casino Bets that our Mortgages will Default!
The Party of NO Help for Main Street!
The Party of NO Taxes on the RICH!
The Party of NO Regulations on what we want to do!
The Party of NO Social Security - Put it in the Market! Trust Wall Street!
The Party of NO Giving up the Seat I Lost in Minnesota!
The Party of NO Obama on F0X!
The Party of T0RTURE and its Effective!
The Party of NO Global Warming Ever!

The Party of LOSERS in 2010 and 2012 and 2016 and 2018 and 2020.....!.

[PhilipTaylor]

Vitter - Campaign Funds
(opensecrets.org)

Business PAC Money =$2,043,953
Health Professionals =$727,919
Securities & Investment =$448,263
Insurance =$223,376
Misc Finance =$215,219
Lobbyists =$210,604
Commercial Banks =$194,724
Misc Business =$189,714
Oil & Gas =$532,135

[lew]

Why is this guy still in Congress? Oh right, it's OK if you are a perved up Republican hillbilly from a Southern state. But you wouldn't want any competent people trying to save your constituents from disasters. How about saving them from you? I thought his wife was gonna cut off the family jewels if he pulled a Bill Clinton on her. At least Clinton didn't have to be diapered by some hooker. Only in the Republican party could this guy still have any influence.

[felixtkatz]

and they wonder why only 23% of voters identify themselves as repubs!

[SharpDressedMan]

21% but who is counting?

[osage]

REPUBLICANS ARE AMERICA'S ENEMY WITHIN

Republicans ARE practicing seditious DEMAGOGUERY and insurrectionary OBSTRUCTIONISM intended to destabilize our economy for purposes of political exploitation.

Republicans AREN'T making a sincere effort to STOP the bleeding THEIR incompetent leadership and failed policies created. Instead, they're using conflicting economic theories as a smokescreen to conceal their subversive agenda, which is to cause President Obama and America to fail so they can blame Democrats for the consequences of THEIR calamitous mismanagement.

Republicans ARE preposterously professing that THEIR disgraceful political WHORING had nothing to do with the banking, real estate, stock market and employment catastrophes that resulted.

Republicans ARE trying to hamstring Democrats to prevent them from exposing the damage caused during a Republican presidency.

Republicans ARE offering controversial arguments they know no one can agree on to disrupt and prevent progressive change. They'd rather divide America and create political gridlock than endure the political consequences of effective Democratic governance. That's how they gained power and that's how they're trying to retain it.

Republicans AREN'T the LOYAL OPPOSITION; they ARE the ENEMY WITHIN whose personal priorities have eroded their moral and ethical standards to the point that duplicity and betrayal are their preferred modus operandi.

It's one thing to advocate their conservative beliefs; it's another thing entirely to willfully sabotage America's government because a successful Democratic presidency would not be vulnerable to the greed, fears and hatreds that have produced and sustained the radical Republican corporatism and extremism that have poisoned and crippled America.

[ObserverinVancouver]

Vitter might get answers to his questions more quickly if he tried to expedit this nomination instead of holding it up How do the dots connect between wanting answers and holding up the nomination of the guy who might really, really get them for him.

Does David Vitter have one single redeeming quality?

[AddyGmom]

Can't think of any.

[FilipeCastro]

He was generous with that woman... :o)

[SpaceCadet]

Obama's nominee for FEMA is from a state with a _Republican_ governor, a state prone to hurricanes where the state emergency manager should have plenty of experience dealing with emergencies. This sounds like an appointment no Republican could oppose, but Vitter wants to block it?

This sound like purely destructive spitefulness at its worst. Obama won the election, so Vitter's going to punish someone for it. Like the residents of the first state to be struck by a hurricane before Obama's FEMA team is in place. Or maybe it's just another cold-blooded Republican political calculation: If a disaster is mismanagement by a FEMA hobbled by the Repub obstructionism, the Repubs can blame it on Obama to help the Repubs gain seats in the 2010 election.

[eirrac]

What do these Republicans do...draw straws to decide who will obstruct the next nominee? Nothing but mocking and hatred from them. And no concern for anyone except wealthy stockholders, large banks and corporations, and hedge funds. Vitter is one of those vermin who just seems to go out of his way to tear people down and destroy any hope most of us have. Shame on him.

[bygollymissmolly]

He's holding up this nomination because he wants the government to relax their conditions for being able to build in a flood zone. He and Landrieu want to be able to build in flood zones. And why not, if something happens the Federal Government will step in and take care of the homeowners who will be flooded out. So, business will profit and the homeowners will be made whole by our tax dollars. I completely support bans on building in areas prone to floods. Why should we, the taxpayers, have to pay because people built houses where they should not be.

[MaryanneAZ]

They certainly cannot be Bible scholars if they do not understand the basic principles about building one's house on a solid foundation and not sand. I'm constantly amazed that these guys get away with this nonsense in State's purported to be conservative "chris.tian" strongholds.

[bygollymissmolly]

It's time that we do something to change the rules so that one person in congress can no longer stop anything. The fact that they can now do it is ridiculous and certainly not democratic.

[weatherwaxx]

Let's not forget that it was important to have these safeguards when Bush and the GOP controlled the Executive and Legislative branches.