Katrina Commission?

Not yet.

Reflecting popular support tagged as high as 70%, Senator Hillary Clinton had proposed an amendment to an appropriations bill that would have established an independent commission to oversee hearings on the federal response to Hurrican Katrina. Rather than the majority-proposed version that would be composed of Congresspeople and with Republicans retaining agenda control, Clinton's version was modeled after the 9/11 Commission, which was appointed by the Executive and featured no current Members. Where are the Democratic ideas, you ask? Here's one: let's cut the crap and appoint some people without vested partisan interest to investigate the facts.

So what would the response of the GOP be? As if you had to ask, the amendment failed. Not only did it fail, it failed on a strict party line, with David Vitter (R-LA) somehow missing from a vote on the biggest issue facing his state, perhaps since a vote for secession. [More...frustratingly lots more.]

So what else is new?