Audit says FEMA squandering Katrina aid

[Tight_rope]

By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer
1 minute ago

WASHINGTON - One year after Katrina, the government is still squandering tens of millions of dollars in wasted disaster aid, including $17 million in bogus rental payments to people who had already received free trailers and apartments, federal investigators said Wednesday

At the same time, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has recovered less than 1 percent of the $1 billion it wasted on fraudulent hurricane assistance after the August 2005 storm, highlighting a need for stronger controls the next time a major hurricane strikes.

The report by the Government Accountability Office paints a picture of an agency still struggling — at substantial taxpayer expense — to find the balance between distributing quick aid to those in need while guarding against substantial abuse.

Last week, a federal judge in Washington ordered the Bush administration to resume housing payments for thousands of people displaced by Katrina, criticizing FEMA for a convoluted application process. FEMA is appealing that ruling.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061206/ap_on_go_ot/katrina_fraud

As though this is news to us!

[partylessinOhio]

1. You're doin' a heckova job, FEMA!

[eppur_se_muova]

2. GAO report: Hurricane fraud soaked taxpayers (CNN)

From Jeanne Meserve and Mike M. Ahlers
CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Call it a case of double-dipping victims.

Federal investigators say the Federal Emergency Management Agency gave nearly $20 million in duplicate payments to over 7,000 people who claimed damages to the same property from both Katrina and Rita -- hurricanes that struck the Gulf Coast only 26 days apart.

FEMA also paid at least $3 million to more than 500 students at four Gulf Coast universities who were not eligible because they were not U.S. citizens.

And, investigators say, the Department of Homeland Security "overstated" the number of missing gear it had recovered in a message to Congress last summer. Many of the items -- laptop computers and printers -- are still missing, investigators say.

These disclosures and others are included in testimony prepared by the Government Accountability Office for a Senate hearing Wednesday on fraud and abuse in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

"To be sure, the majority of the billions in assistance ... was necessary and warranted," said Sen. Susan Collins, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. "But FEMA has yet to strike a proper balance between expedited assistance and good stewardship of taxpayer funds."
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more: http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/12/06/katrina.gao.report/index.html

[Drum]

3. Investigate. Prosecute. Reform. nt

[lpbk2713]

4. I'll bet Trent Lott got his porch fixed.

And then some.