Barney Frank For Congress - Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina

Frank Expands on Comments on "Ethnic Cleansing by Inaction" During Appearance on "Hardball"

Thu, 2 Mar 2006 10:15:36 -0500

Hosted by Chris Matthews

Matthews: Your remarks yesterday were pretty hot. Do you stand by them?

Frank: Yes, although I see there was some potential confusion. Somebody wrote me an angry letter today and said "were you accusing the President of genocide?" To me there was a very sharp distinction between ethnic cleansing and genocide.

Genocide is murdering people. By ethnic cleansing - and I welcome a chance to clarify this as certainly what I had in mind - I'm talking about the policy of removing a certain kind of people from an area, not killing them, but getting them out. And that's clearly what's going on in New Orleans.

It is clearly going to be the case that if the Bush Administration is allowed to continue its policy, there will be in New Orleans after this is over, this period of crisis, many fewer lower income people, and particularly many fewer African-Americans.

The inaction of the federal government is such that people...whose homes were destroyed, whose lives were devastated by the hurricane, are getting literally no assistance.

Financial Services Committee Members and Gulf Coast Reps. Urge Quick Action

Tue, 14 Feb 2006 14:01:30 -0500

We are writing to express our exasperation with the failure of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to comply with a Congressional directive to issue timely guidance with respect to continued eligibility for housing assistance under the Section 408 program.

We have not fulfilled our moral duty to the poorest people and working people and lower middle income people in New Orleans

Tue, 14 Feb 2006 13:59:47 -0500

That is a moral question. It is a moral question when people are left behind because they do not have the resources to leave and other people leave. It is a moral question when people are not rescued when they could be rescued. It is a moral question when we let people live now in conditions brought about by this flood that are not decent conditions for human beings.