NEW ORLEANS - Former U.S. Sen. John Breaux, along with other former Louisiana congressional members, engineers, urban planners and economic developers, are banding together to examine Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, Breaux said Saturday.

The Hurricane Katrina Commission will focus on how New Orleans should be rebuilt, not whether it should be rebuilt, he said. “Just as the commission formed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center never sought to recommend whether the twin towers should be rebuilt.”

“We must have the attitude that things can be done. We are meeting with contractors, working on fundraising, looking at ways to re-build New Orleans and the other Gulf Coast areas,” Breaux said. “There should not have to be a decision on whether it should be rebuilt. It is no more difficult a decision than whether to rebuild San Francisco after its earthquakes or Chicago after its fires. We as a nation must help people rebuild their lives.”

Speaking at the Emergency Operations Center in Baton Rouge, Breaux said the commission also plans to point out that the Army Corps.of Engineers needs its full funding to adequately protect the region from another disaster of Katrina proportions.

He said in 2004, the corps asked for $27 million for its projects, but received less than $5 million.

“As a member of Congress, I was part of that decision. I put Congress in the same boat as those who could have done better,” said Breaux, whose third term as U.S. Senator expired Jan. 3. “But no other state has the wetlands loss issues that we have. No other state has the issue of catastrophic results if a hurricane hits.”

Breaux said the commission will look at issues such as whether congress appropriated adequate funding for protecting New Orleans, “and the answer is clearly not.”

But Breaux said despite what could have been done before Katrina hit to protect New Orleans from the massive flood waters that blanketed the city when its levees failed, neither he nor the national commission he is working to form will be part of “the blame game.”

“This is not the time or forum,” he said, to blame local, state or federal officials. “Blame does not save lives, feed families or compensate for loss.”

He praised city officials for working with Gov. Blanco and the National Guard to evacuate the thousands who were evacuated before the storm and continue to be evacuated and said that each day, the situation is improving.

“Today is better than yesterday, yesterday is better than day before.”

Breaux rejected the idea that food, water and supplies were slow to reach those stranded at the Superdome and Convention Center because of racial motivations.

“Mayor Ray Nagin is an African American, almost the entire New Orleans City Council is made up of African-Americans. To suggest that these African-American leaders would shortchange their own citizens is a suggestion that is absolutely without merit.”

Breaux said areas surrounding New Orleans with a higher percentage of white were just as slow to receive supplies.

“The commonality in all of this is people who are poor and did not get out because they did not have a car. It is more an issue of poverty,” Breaux said.

Breaux served seven terms as a U.S. Congressman and three as a U.S. Senator. In 1990, he was instrumental in getting passed what is knows as The Breaux Act, The Breaux Act the single largest federal legislation to date that addresses the coastal wetland loss in Louisiana.