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Just Being A Jerk

McClatchy writes that Louisiana senator blocks nominee to lead FEMA

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

Fugate had sailed through his nomination hearing and Monday cleared the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee by a unanimous voice vote. Republican Sen. David Vitter said, however, that he’d blocked Fugate because of concerns he has with FEMA.

This is totally bogus. Craig Fugate is an experienced professional who has been through some of the worst hurricane seasons Florida has ever seen, and done a good job, both before and after storms. He oversaw a smooth running system, that was able to respond quickly and effectively to threats.

Vitter wouldn’t sponsor or vote for attempts to improve the recovery situation in Louisiana, and now he has concerns about decisions that FEMA has made?! Those decisions were made under the Bush Administration, and Fugate can’t explain them, because they didn’t make any sense to him. FEMA is definitely going to be different, but expecting a nominee to respond to every hypothetical a Senator can imagine, before he has access to the records, is just stupid. [Please note that Fugate served in Republican administrations, the only kind Florida has had this century.]

Vitter’s only purpose is to be annoying and stall an Obama appointment. The hurricane season starts in a month, and it would be nice if someone was at the head of FEMA. The Republicans already look like jerks for stalling the appointment of the Secretary of Health and Human Services who went through with a two-thirds vote when it was finally taken, and now this.

It is past time to make them filibuster.

4 comments

1 hipparchia { 05.01.09 at 10:32 pm }

i suppose he’s holding out for ray nagin as nominee.

It is past time to make them filibuster.

at this point, i’m thinking maybe they ought to break out the nuclear oklahoma option.

2 Bryan { 05.01.09 at 10:40 pm }

Of all the people to put a hold on, Fugate makes no sense. Did they think JEB was appointing Democrats to important positions in the Florida government?

It may be time to sanitize Senate offices because of the swine flu, beginning with the hogs most responsible for the mess we are in.

3 cookie jill { 05.02.09 at 12:08 am }

Harry’s a spineless wussy. He feints at the word “fillibuster”….
I say the Democrats in Louisiana should be putting on ads showing Vitter as the slimeball he is and basically saying that Vitter isn’t interested in FEMA…which I don’t think he is unless it’s a political ball he can kick around.

Someone start standing up to these whackjobs and point out the truth about them…even making them fillibuster

cookie jill´s last blog post..Meryl Streep plays Julia Child

4 Bryan { 05.02.09 at 12:37 am }

Harry Reid needs to go. He is the biggest obstacle to getting things done in the Senate. He honors holds by Republicans, but not by Dems, and has since he took over.