free growth. Witt said no tax dollars would go to the fund, and insurance companies would not be able to dip into the special fund for any purpose other than paying claims from catastrophes that exceed a threshold to be determined. "New York has a very high population. If there was an event in New York the costs would be astronomical," he said. Witt said FEMA's problems handling Katrina in recent weeks reinforced concerns he expressed to Congress in March 2004 that the agency's ability to respond had been damaged by putting it under the control of the Department of Homeland Security. "My hope is they will look at this seriously and put FEMA back as an independent agency with the position at cabinet level that I had," he said. "Whenever you take the leadership and take the resources and funding out of an agency that has the role and responsibility that FEMA has ... then it's difficult to be able to respond."
