Senior House Democrats Urge President to Terminate Michael Brown's Consult

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Senior House Democrats Urge President to Terminate Michael Brown's Consulting Contract

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 /U.S. Newswire/ -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and other senior House Democrats sent a letter to President Bush this afternoon urging him to immediately terminate Michael Brown's consulting contract with the Department of Homeland Security.

Below is the text of the letter:

November 9, 2005

President George W. Bush

The White House

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

We are writing to urge you to immediately terminate Michael Brown's ongoing consulting contract with the Department of Homeland Security. After Mr. Brown's dismal performance in preparing for and responding to Hurricane Katrina, your Administration's decision to continue paying Mr. Brown an annual salary of $148,000 is inexplicable and a gross waste of taxpayer dollars.

After being relieved of his Katrina-related duties, Mr. Brown resigned as Undersecretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response on September 12. Two weeks later, Mr. Brown testified before Congress and confirmed that he was continuing to receive his salary as a consultant to FEMA. (1) Amazingly, he had been asked to stay on the payroll for 30 days in order to determine what went wrong with FEMA's response to Hurricane Katrina. The Department of Homeland Security justified the contract by saying that Mr. Brown was "transitioning out of his job" and that FEMA needed to get a "proper download of his experience."(2)

....

FEMA should certainly debrief Mr. Brown, but he hardly needs to be on the taxpayers' payroll for that purpose. An extended contract to "download" Mr. Brown's experiences is an abuse of taxpayer funds and an insult to the survivors of Katrina who were so poorly served by Mr. Brown and his agency. We urge you to terminate this contract immediately.

Sincerely,

Nancy Pelosi, House Democratic Leader

Steny Hoyer, House Democratic Whip

David Obey, Ranking Member, Appropriations Committee

Henry A. Waxman, Ranking Member, Government Reform Committee

Bennie Thompson, Ranking Member, Homeland Security Committee