FederalDaily - September 13, 2005
FEMA Head Resigns
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director Michael Brown announced
yesterday his resignation, following a slew of criticism for his agency’s
delayed response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. The White
House days before had replaced Brown as leader of the federal response to the
hurricane in New Orleans, naming Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad W. Allen to take
the position.
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Request for DoD Housing for Hurricane Victims
Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., last week wrote to Deputy Undersecretary of Defense
Philip Grone urging the Department of Defense (DoD) to consider placing Hurricane
Katrina evacuees in former and excess military housing. “The housing
located on former and active DoD bases and installations may provide a significant
number of those evacuated with a home and a community environment where they
can begin to restore their lives,” wrote Dole to Grone. “I ask
you to consider placing Gulf Coast evacuees in former or excess military housing,
either on a temporary or long-term basis…we must utilize all possible
resources to help our fellow Americans during this crisis at home.”
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Problems with 9/11 Health Monitoring
After the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center (WTC), an estimated 40,000
people responded to the disaster—including New York City Fire Department
(FDNY) personnel and other government and private sector workers and volunteers
. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that several federally-funded
programs have monitored the physical and mental health effects of the WTC attack.
GAO said the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) program to
screen federal workers who were sent by their agencies to respond to the WTC
disaster has “accomplished little and is on hold.” The program
completed screening of 394 of the estimated 10,000 federal workers who responded
in an official capacity to the disaster, but HHS officials suspended examinations
and the program has not screened anyone since March 2004. For more on this
story, see the upcoming Sept. 19, 2005 , issue of Federal Employees News Digest.
To subscribe, click here.
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Courts Can Operate Outside Their Jurisdiction
The Senate on Sept. 8 unanimously passed a bipartisan bill sponsored by Sens.
Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy,
D-Vt., the panel’s ranking member, and Louisiana Sens. Mary Landrieu,
D, and David Vitter, R, that would allow federal courts to convene outside
their jurisdiction during times of crisis. The bill, drafted at the request
of the Judicial Conference, would allow courts within the jurisdiction decimated
by Hurricane Katrina to continue to conduct business outside of the region. The
Senate also passed a House-companion bill containing identical language. The
bill now moves to President Bush’s desk for signing.
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