WASHINGTON -- Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay traded verbal jabs Tuesday when congressional leaders emerged from a meeting with President Bush about Hurricane Katrina.
Signs of partisan sniping over the federal response to the disaster already were on display on Tuesday, just hours after lawmakers returned to Washington after a summer recess.
Reid told reporters gathered outside the White House that the Federal Emergency Management Agency's response had been a "total failure."
"We're going to have an independent commission to study what went wrong," Reid said. "Mark my words, it's going to happen."
Reid, D-Nev., said Congress should review whether it made the right move making FEMA part of the the Homeland Security Department.
A few moments later, DeLay, R-Tex., stepped to the microphone and sharply disagreed with Reid that FEMA's response had been a failure.
DeLay earlier in the day had said of the relief effort: "My own impression is the whole system broke down."
But outside the White House he sharply disputed Reid, saying he had visited with FEMA officials working in the disaster area and noted that they were working hard to save lives around the clock.
"There were mistakes made by everybody involved," DeLay said. "There were decisions that needed to be made that weren't made, and we shouldn't be dwelling on that issue."
As DeLay spoke, Reid, standing a few feet behind him, made a brief attempt to interject and speak over DeLay. But Reid, drawing a concerned look from his communications director Jim Manley, did not continue. Later Manley would not repeat what Reid had started to say.
"Frustrations are beginning to bubble out a little bit," Manley said.
Also at the press conference, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., disagreed with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., over whether FEMA director Brown and others should be fired.
Frist said a few firings will not address deeper problems in the broader disaster response system at city, state and federal levels.
"I want to assure the American people we are on this aggressively," Frist added.
Moments later Pelosi said it was absolutely appropriate to call for Brown's ouster.
"We're a week behind where we should to be in responding to Katrina," she said.
Asked after the press conference if the mood at the meeting with Bush reflected the partisan conflict on display outside, DeLay said, "The Republican majority is moving forward in a positive way."
DeLay also told reporters that he did not favor rolling back federal gas taxes to ease the burden of rising gas prices. He said those taxes are needed more than ever for transportation projects like roads, bridges and railroads.
"You have to have the infrastructure or you can't have a recovery," DeLay said. 08
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