6A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEWS
FRIDAY, APRIL 7, 2006
FEMA
Bush promotes acting director of disaster relief
BY HOPE YEN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — With hurricane season just two months away, President Bush on Thursday nominated the acting director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to be permanent head of the nation's disaster response agency.
R. David Paulison, a 30-year
mugher, took over at FEMA in September, when Bush named him to replace Michael Brown, who quit in the face of unrelenting criticism over the agency's sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina.
If confirmed by the Senate, Paulison would be undersecretary for federal emergency management at the Homeland Security Department.
"I'd be darned if I was going to turn my back on it." Paulison
said of his job at a news conference after he and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff acknowledged that some others were not interested in the post.
Of the June 1 start of the hurricane season, Paulison said, "We're going to be ready for it."
If confirmed by the Senate, R. David Paulison would be undersecretary for federal emergency management at the Homeland Security Department.
The Bush administration has been widely criticized for being unprepared for Katrina, which ravaged the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, and for responding to its destruction too slowly.
which was absorbed by the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department.
Paulison, 59, began as a firefighter in 1971 with the North Miami Beach Fire Department.
Paulison, who received a bachelor's degree from Florida Atlantic University, was just six weeks into his new job as fire chief in Miami-Dade County when Hurricane Andrew struck in 1992, leaving tens of thousands of people homeless and causing billions of dollars in damage.
Paulison also led the department through the 1996 crash of ValuJet Flight 592 in the Florida Everglades.
Praised for his response to Andrew, Paulison brought hands-on experience and his training in fighting fires and emergency management to his post as FEMA's interim director.
A longtime advocate of home-emergency kits, Paulison made a splash in 2003 when as director of FEMA's emergency preparedness unit he urged the public to stock supplies of duct tape and plastic sheeting to seal windows and doors in case of a terrorist attack.
Home hardware stores in several areas ran out of duct tape as a result and manufacturers spurred production to meet the surge in demand.
A certified paramedic, Paulison moved to Washington in late 2001. After FEMA became part of the Homeland Security Department in 2003, he led FEMA's emergency preparedness force until last year. He also has led the U.S. Fire Administration.
Khamuha Bouauhanh/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
U. S. Border Patrol Agent Jeff McIntosh instructs illegal immigrants to board a bus after they were apprehended in Pima County, Ariz., Thursday. Lawmakers in Washington are debating immigration reform measures including some that would add thousands of agents to the border.
Senate debates immigration bill
CONGRESS
BY DAVID ESPO
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON — Putting aside party differences, Senate Republicans and Democrats coalesced Thursday around compromise legislation that holds out the hope of citizenship to an estimated 11 million immigrants living in the United States unlawfully.
"We can no longer afford to delay reform," said Republican Sens. John McCain and Edward M. Kennedy in a statement that capped weeks of struggle to find common ground.
But the emerging compromise drew fire from both ends of the political spectrum. Conservative Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, likened it to an amnesty bill that cleared Congress in 1986, while AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said it threatened to "drive millions of hardworking immigrants further into the shadows of American society, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation."
President Bush said he was pleased with the developments and urged the Senate to pass legislation by week's end.
Still, after days of partisan election-year rancor, an overnight breakthrough on the future of illegal immigrants propelled the Senate closer to passage of the most sweeping immigration legislation in two decades.
In an indication of the complicated political forces at work.
officials of both parties disagreed about which side had blinked. But they agreed that a decision to reduce the number of future temporary workers allowed into the country had broken a deadlock that threatened as late as Wednesday night to scuttle efforts to pass a bill. The change will limit temporary work permits to 325,000 a year, down from 400,000 in earlier versions of the bill.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., characterized the developments as a "huge breakthrough." Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said he was optimistic about final passage, but cautioned, "We can't declare victory."
chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said: "While it admittedly is not perfect, the choice we have to make is whether it is better than no bill, and the choice is decisive."
Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa.,
Separately, the legislation provides a new program for 1.5 million temporary agriculture industry workers over five years.
It also includes provisions for employers to verify the legal status of workers they hire, but it was not clear what sanctions, if any, would apply to violators.
To secure the border, the bill calls for a virtual fence — as opposed to the literal barrier contained in House legislation — consisting of surveillance cameras, sensors and other monitoring equipment.
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