wfn.org | NCC Commission: FEMA needs to be independent

["NCC News" <pjenks@ncccusa.org>]

NCC Special Commission Calls for FEMA Independence, Expresses Concern about
Red Cross

Lott Aide Says: Rebuilding Efforts are a 'mess'; New chair of Democratic
Caucus Meets With Commission

Washington, D.C., January 31, 2006 -- As President Bush prepares to address
the nation this evening with his administration's plans for restoring the
Gulf Coast region, the National Council of Churches? Special Commission for
the Just Rebuilding of the Gulf Coast is calling for radical changes in U.S.
emergency relief efforts. 

With numerous recent reports indicating that progress is moving at a snail's
pace five months after the hurricanes devastated the region, and with time
running out for evacuees in temporary housing (yesterday was the deadline for
the more than 20,000 evacuees still in hotel/motel rooms to apply for an
extension of benefits beyond Feb. 6), NCC's Special Commission is supporting
Senator Trent Lott (R-Miss.) in a call for the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) to be moved from under the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS). 

"The system is a mess," said one of Lott's aides to members of NCC's Special
Commission at a meeting on Capitol Hill last week. According to the aide,
Senator Lott has been dismayed by the slow response to these natural
disasters, noting that there was a better federal response to Hurricane
Camille in 1969. 

The members of the Special Commission believe that removing FEMA from DHS
will help the agency better respond to natural disasters and prevent them
from escalating to widespread ruin as was the case with hurricanes Katrina
and Rita. 

Although Lott initially approved of FEMA becoming a part of DHS, he now
believes it was an "absolute mistake" for the agency to be under DHS, said
the aide.

In addition to recommending this change, the Special Commission voted to
advocate for two other initiatives based on meetings in Washington last week:
to call for the reinterpretation of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief
and Emergency Assistance Act, and to urge Congress to review the role and
position of the Red Cross as a first responder. 

Even with the extension of benefits that evacuees can receive if they met
yesterday's deadline, FEMA will only be allowed to pay for hotel/motel rooms
through March 1 for most evacuees because of the way the Stafford Act is
being interpreted by DHS. The Special Commission is strongly urging DHS to
reinterpret the Stafford Act so that evacuees are given more time in
emergency housing and additional monetary assistance to help rebuild. 

The Special Commission also determined that it is important to urge Congress
to review the role and position of the Red Cross as a first responder because
of the relief organization's bureaucratic nature and its inability to respond
rapidly and sufficiently during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. 

"People have literally died because of the mishaps, mistakes and
mismanagement of this situation. Now thousands are just a few weeks of being
put on the streets of Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and other states as
federal funding for emergency housing is cut off," said Bishop Melvin G.
Talbert, a retired United Methodist Bishop and chair of the Special
Commission. 

"Politics must be put aside and urgent action taken so that evacuees get the
help that they need, and were promised, from the federal government," he
said.  

The Special Commission met in the nation's capital Jan. 25-26 to further its
work to advocate for the just rebuilding of the Gulf Coast region. The
meeting with Senator Lott's office was one of several such meetings held by
members of the Special Commission, including a meeting with Rep. Jim Clyburn,
chair of the Democratic Caucus, staff from Senator David Vitter's office
(R-La.) and representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA), the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and Enterprise
Community Partners (formerly the Enterprise Foundation), a housing and
community development organization that has been part of the effort to build
new and more equitable communities in the Gulf Coast region.

"To celebrate the success of speaking truth to power with a rebuilt and
restored Gulf Coast region, where communities of love, justice and
tranquility exist for those who remained, returned, or resettled elsewhere
due to the fair and equitable distribution of available human and material
resources from all sectors of society around the world," was adopted as the
vision statement for the Special Commission during last week's meeting. The
Special Commission also agreed on a set of guiding principles for their work
(see below). A more detailed set of principles and a theological statement
will also be released in the coming months. 

These statements from the Special Commission will join a statement adopted by
NCC's Eco-Justice Working Group in October that addressed the critical
environmental issues that must be taken into consideration as restoration and
rebuilding efforts take place in the Gulf Coast region. (See statement
below.)

"The Gospel compels the church to advocate on behalf of the voiceless, to be
a champion for the rights of the powerless and an ardent guardian of God's
creation," said the Eco-Justice Working Group statement. "The foundations of
these renewed communities must be sound ecology, social equity, racial
justice and pervasive compassion towards the least, the voiceless and the
marginalized."

The Special Commission for the Just Rebuilding of the Gulf Coast was
established by urgent action of NCC's Governing Board in September, shortly
after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf Coast region. In
November the General Assembly affirmed the Special Commission and directed it
to "strive for the greatest degree of coherence and comprehensive efforts in
our rebuilding the Gulf Coast communities and in addressing the human
inequities which exacerbated a natural disaster into wholesale calamity."
_____
Statement of the National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Working Group
Adopted at the Eco-Justice Working Group Oct. 3-4, 2005, meeting

The tragedy of Hurricane Katrina and Rita compels us to bring our most
cherished values and finest resources to the rebuilding. The desire to
restore and rebuild must be guided by principles that will ensure that a just
society will emerge from the receding waters. The Gospel compels the church
to advocate on behalf of the voiceless, to be a champion for the rights of
the powerless and an ardent guardian of God's creation. The foundations of
these renewed communities must be sound ecology, social equity, racial
justice and pervasive compassion towards the least, the voiceless and the
marginalized. 

The process of clean up is critical. It must be undertaken using the
strictest guidelines and should be designed to protect public health and the
environment. The tools of science not expediency must guide this process. The
health and safety of all involved in the clean up must be a primary concern
and all the pertinent safety regulations must be adhered to.  The future
habitability of the region must be assessed by sound scientific principles
and regulatory compliance not merely economic concerns. The rebuilding
expenditures must not be offset at the cost of environmental damage to other
regions and not be used to justify weakening environmental safeguards. 

The church must therefore be an active presence, not only as a place of
comfort and solace, but as a watchful steward of community health: social,
economic and ecological justice; and the rights of racial-ethnic minorities.
Out of destruction and death can thus emerge a new society that better
reflects the earthly concerns of the Reign of God. 

_____
For more information about the Special Commission's work and updates on the
efforts to rebuild, go to www.ncccusa.org/justrebuilding.