To the Point

Delay Resigns; The Future of FEMA

Segment 1: Congressman DeLay's Surprise ResignationTom DeLay engineered the brash reapportionment of Texas Congressional seats that bolstered the Republican majority in Congress. He got House Republicans marching in lock step, engineered Bill Clinton's impeachment and was crucial to George Bush's first term. But the Tom DeLay era really ended last year, when his Texas indictment forced him to step down as Majority Leader in Congress. With continuing revelations in the Abramoff scandal, DeLay's predicament was a gift to Democrats, not just in Texas but all over the country. Today, under indictment and dogged by scandal, DeLay says he'll quit the Congress rather than lose to a Democratic opponent. We get the latest from Texas and Washington.Segment 2: The Ongoing Leadership Vacuum at FEMAAfter Katrina, it became common knowledge that the leadership of the Federal Emergency Management Agency was not experienced in disaster response or preparedness. President Bush's first FEMA director was a political operative and his successor, Michael Brown, ran the Arabian Horse Association in Colorado. Since Brown's resignation, and with only two months until the next hurricane season, America's best disaster experts have turned down the Administration's offer to fill the job. Has FEMA been neutralized by preoccupation with the war against terror?