WASHINGTON -- United States Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., today grilled Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator David Paulison and Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Richard Skinner on FEMA's progress since the 2005 hurricanes. A FEMA report released today concluded that the agency has not made "substantial progress" in any of nine areas reviewed.

"I am not going to stop talking about FEMA reform until it is fixed," Sen. Landrieu said. "FEMA's own report concluded today that this agency has failed to make substantial progress in nine critical categories.

"FEMA continues to get in the way of recovery instead of spurring it along. It has worked to prevent commonsense reform like allowing Louisiana to use hazard mitigation money as part of its Road Home housing program."

Under questioning from Sen. Landrieu, both Administrator Paulison and IG Skinner agreed that the Stafford Act is ill-equipped to be the response mechanism for major catastrophes like Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the devastating levee failures that followed. Both witnesses agreed with Sen. Landrieu that while the law needs dramatic change, it should be reformed as problems arise.

"It does not work, as you clearly know, in an event like Katrina," Administrator Paulision said.

The IG report released today included nine key areas where FEMA's progress was tested, including: overall planning, coordination and support, interoperable communications, logistics, evacuations, housing disaster workforce, mission assignments and acquisition management. Of these nine areas, FEMA did not make "substantial progress" in any of them. It made "moderate progress" in five, "modest progress" in three and "little or no progress" in one.

FEMA also failed for a second time this week to deliver to Congress the National Disaster Housing Strategy. The trailers FEMA provided to survivors of Katrina and Rita in Louisiana and Mississippi have been proven to contain five times the normal level of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen. Administrator Paulison promised Sen. Landrieu that the report would be complete by June 1 -- nearly a full year past the deadline mandated by law.

"My subcommittee will continue to work to reform the Stafford Act, which has proven to be totally inadequate at guiding catastrophic disaster response," said Sen. Landrieu, who chairs the Disaster Recovery Subcommittee of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. My subcommittee will also continue to work toward FEMA reform so we can speed up our recover and better respond to the next catastrophic disaster, be it natural or manmade."

An audio recording with excerpts from the hearing is available here .