DeLay points to local officials

House cancels hearings; joint panel to look at Katrina response

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The House majority leader late Tuesday tried to deflect criticism of the federal response to Hurricane Katrina by saying "the emergency response system was set up to work from the bottom up," then announced a short time later that House hearings examining that response had been canceled.

Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said House Republican leaders instead want a joint House-Senate panel set up to conduct a "congressional review" of the issue.

Tempers flared Tuesday during a contentious closed-door meeting between House members and Cabinet secretaries in charge of directing Katrina relief efforts. A Republican representative stood up and said, "All of you deserve failing grades. The response was a disaster," CNN was told by lawmakers emerging from the meeting.

But DeLay countered that assessment later in a news conference by saying that the onus for responding to emergencies fell to local officials.

"It's the local officials trying to handle the problem. When they can't handle the problem, they go to the state, and the state does what they can to, and if they need assistance from FEMA and the federal government they ask for it and it's delivered," DeLay said.

He added that Alabama and Mississippi did a much better job of responding quickly than Louisiana. Alabama and Mississippi have Republican governors.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee said Tuesday it has begun an investigation into the government's response to the tragedy. Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she expects public hearings to start next week.

Critics argue that the government took far too long to mobilize aid, causing thousands of storm victims to languish for days in the New Orleans Superdome without food, water and other necessities.

Michael Chertoff, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has come under intense criticism for the federal response to Katrina. The hurricane and subsequent flooding have devastated the city of New Orleans.

Chertoff, who is heading the federal response to the storm, argued for days after the disaster that no one foresaw such a combination of events -- even though, in fact, lawmakers, scientists, and reporters had long warned that if a major hurricane hit the city it would be a disaster.

Earlier Tuesday, House leaders met with President Bush.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California told media afterward that she was upset with the Katrina rescue effort and felt that Michael Brown, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), should shoulder much of the blame, and lacked the credentials to do his good job.

"Michael Brown, the head of FEMA, brings nothing to the table for the level of competence and accountability," Pelosi said. "He should not continue in that job unless we want a continuation of the shortcomings that we have had in the response."

In a memo dated August 29 -- the day Katrina made landfall -- Brown asked Chertoff for 1,000 DHS volunteers willing to deploy as soon as possible "for a two-week minimum field assignment" in hurricane-struck states.

The memo was obtained by the media Tuesday.

In it, Brown writes, "We anticipate needing at least 1,000 additional DHS employees within 48 hours and 2,000 within 7 days."

According to Natalie Rule, a spokeswoman for FEMA, the employees were needed to answer phones, do community relations and help set up field hospitals, what she called "non-emergency tasks." They are not first-responders, she said.

"We already had all of our first-responder teams pre-deployed -- 32 teams in all -- who went in and staged in and around the hurricane zone and were ready to go by Sunday. This is deployment that requires that the governor make a request to the federal government," Rule said.

In closing, Brown says in the memo, "Thank you for your consideration in helping us meet our responsibilities in this near catastrophic event." Attached to the memo is a list of requirements for employees heading to the hurricane area, including personal supplies, contact points and physical requirements.

One part of the attachment advises employees to "convey a positive image of disaster operations to government officials, community organizations and the general public."