Michael Chertoff Quotes

I believe in local control of education.

President Bush, Secretary of State Rice, and several cabinet level officials have visited Alabama's Gulf Coast in recent days to tour the devastation and to offer their continuing support and prayers for everyone affected by the storm.

My great-grandchildren will not be able to enjoy the Gulf Coast of Louisiana the way I have.

The recovery of the Gulf Coast region will take years to complete.

Our volunteer fire departments know their needs better than Washington, D.C. They need more flexibility on spending grant money from FEMA and Homeland Security.

Nearly two weeks have passed since Hurricane Katrina made landfall along the Gulf Coast, and while we are still dealing with the tremendous devastation - and will be for quite some time - we are also seeing increased signs of recovery and help in our region.

The rebuilding of New Orleans is an important point in the history of the United States.

Louisiana has got a very specific warmth and humidity and richness of light.

I pointed out on the floor last year, after Hurricane Katrina, we were very proud that one of our National Guard engineering battalions was called to Louisiana. And they did a magnificent job.

While the level of support we can each provide certainly varies, it is very important at this time that we all do what we can to help our neighbors - not only our immediate neighbors here in Alabama, but those further away in Mississippi and Louisiana.

I think a lot of things could be handled locally.

As everyone in Louisiana knows, there was often no communication or coordination between the state and federal government in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

I think the federal government really should be supporting Louisiana and ensuring that every person from that area has an opportunity to vote on what will occur in the area.

I have no doubt that the government of this great nation will work with its people to lead New Orleans and the Gulf Coast back to an enlightened, proud, safe part of the world.

I'm from the gulf coast of Louisiana.

Imagine if, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Gulf Coast residents had to wait on Democrats and Republicans to agree on cuts before receiving clean water or loans to rebuild. Congress' negotiations often come slow or not at all.

Everybody in America is going to have to sacrifice to help us rebuild the Gulf Coast. Every government program, every individual, we are all going to have to sacrifice.

George W. Bush let people die on rooftops in New Orleans because they were black and poor.

I resent the idea that somebody in Washington will protect our environment better than we can.

Those who say "not in my back yard" are saying "rape someone else's back yard.

The moment responsibilities of any community, particularly in economic and social questions, are shifted from any part of the nation to Washington, then that community has subjected itself to a remote bureaucracy.... It has lost ... control of its own destiny.

The bureaucracy needs to do more than one thing at a time. It’s appropriate to save people with helicopters, but it can’t be done to the exclusion of everything else.

Hurricane Katrina was the storm of the 21st century. It devastated an area the size of Great Britain. More than 1,800 Americans died. Three hundred thousand homes were destroyed. There was $96 billion in property damage. I served on the Louisiana Recovery Authority. I saw Congress write one big check and then skip town.

Collective decisions about health care and education are best answered on a local level.

My family went to the Hamptons, so I understand what happens when a slice of perfect utopia gets overdeveloped, when one way of living is replaced by another.