southsider2k5 Posted December 7, 2006 Share Posted December 7, 2006 http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews....=rss&rpc=22 By Jeremy Pelofsky WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fraud involving payments supposed to help victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita likely exceeds earlier estimates of $1 billion and only a tiny fraction of the money has been recovered, according to a U.S. government report released on Wednesday. A February estimate that improper payments could be $1 billion "is likely understated," the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, said in the report to the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has only been able to recover about $7 million in improper payments, which included money for temporary housing and aid to foreign students studying in the region, according to the report. The GAO cited incidents in which FEMA gave $17 million in housing assistance to individuals who had already obtained free housing in the form of trailers or apartments and $20 million that went to people who improperly claimed for help for both storms that ravaged the U.S. Gulf Coast area. "FEMA has yet to strike a proper balance between expedited assistance and good stewardship of taxpayer funds," said Sen. Susan Collins, chairwoman of the committee and a Maine Republican. Katrina alone caused $80 billion in damage, killed 1,500 people and displaced hundreds of thousands more. More than $100 billion was set aside by Congress to help the region recover from the 2005 storms. Collins said FEMA does have plans to recover another $8 million but criticized it as "pennies on the dollar" and said the effort was moving too slowly. "The fact is that once the money is out the door, it is very difficult for FEMA to recover it," she said The GAO also said that 42 out of 145 laptops bought to help with FEMA operations during the hurricanes were presumed lost or stolen, and many Global Positioning System tracking devices were also lost or stolen. "As with all reports that have offered insight in improving FEMA's disaster response and recovery efforts, the agency will consider and evaluate any new findings that can assist in improving our processes and procedures," FEMA spokesman Pat Philbin said in a statement. He said that FEMA has taken corrective action, such as upgrading the system to prevent duplicate registrations for aid assistance. A U.S. judge last month ordered the Bush administration to resume aid payments for housing after FEMA cut the assistance off citing an insufficient explanation. ACORN, a community organization that filed a challenge, said the payments would help 11,000 families in Texas and Louisiana. © Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YASNY Posted December 7, 2006 Share Posted December 7, 2006 Somebody in Louisiana is getting rich and I'm sure it's not the poor families. Who's running that state anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted December 7, 2006 Share Posted December 7, 2006 QUOTE(YASNY @ Dec 7, 2006 -> 06:35 AM) Somebody in Louisiana is getting rich and I'm sure it's not the poor families. Who's running that state anyway? FEMA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YASNY Posted December 7, 2006 Share Posted December 7, 2006 QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Dec 7, 2006 -> 10:44 AM) FEMA. From what I've been hearing from the MSM, they've been running FROM the state. It's gotta be someone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthSideSox72 Posted December 7, 2006 Share Posted December 7, 2006 QUOTE(YASNY @ Dec 7, 2006 -> 10:52 AM) From what I've been hearing from the MSM, they've been running FROM the state. It's gotta be someone else. Louisiana and NO were already possibly the most corrupt, poorly run state and city in the country anyway. This just pushed them over the edge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sox4lifeinPA Posted December 7, 2006 Share Posted December 7, 2006 QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 7, 2006 -> 11:54 AM) Louisiana and NO were already possibly the most corrupt, poorly run state and city in the country anyway. This just pushed them over the edge. and according to their election rules, Rex wouldn't be the winner of our little soxtalk election. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YASNY Posted December 7, 2006 Share Posted December 7, 2006 QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 7, 2006 -> 10:54 AM) Louisiana and NO were already possibly the most corrupt, poorly run state and city in the country anyway. This just pushed them over the edge. Imagine that. Who is it that runs that state (and city) again? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damen Posted December 7, 2006 Share Posted December 7, 2006 (edited) QUOTE(YASNY @ Dec 7, 2006 -> 12:55 PM) Imagine that. Who is it that runs that state (and city) again? Democrats do, but that has little to nothing to do with this very specific problem with FEMA. Why can't people just accept something for what it is without running to some pointless and false equivolent in an attempt to evade dealing with the problem at hand? Edited December 7, 2006 by Damen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthSideSox72 Posted December 7, 2006 Share Posted December 7, 2006 QUOTE(Damen @ Dec 7, 2006 -> 01:19 PM) Democrats do, but that has little to nothing to do with this very specific problem with FEMA. Why can't people just accept something for what it is without running to some pointless and false equivolent in an attempt to evade dealing with the problem at hand? "The Democrats" do not run Louisiana or New Orleans. Blanco and Nagin, two people who bring nothing positive to their offices, do. The fact that they are Democrats is not relevant to their lack of leadership in this sort of thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damen Posted December 7, 2006 Share Posted December 7, 2006 QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 7, 2006 -> 01:21 PM) "The Democrats" do not run Louisiana or New Orleans. Blanco and Nagin, two people who bring nothing positive to their offices, do. The fact that they are Democrats is not relevant to their lack of leadership in this sort of thing. Good point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YASNY Posted December 7, 2006 Share Posted December 7, 2006 QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 7, 2006 -> 01:21 PM) "The Democrats" do not run Louisiana or New Orleans. Blanco and Nagin, two people who bring nothing positive to their offices, do. The fact that they are Democrats is not relevant to their lack of leadership in this sort of thing. Doesn't mean a thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthSideSox72 Posted December 7, 2006 Share Posted December 7, 2006 QUOTE(YASNY @ Dec 7, 2006 -> 01:40 PM) Doesn't mean a thing. I can't tell if you are being sarcastic, but, I agree with this - it doesn't mean a thing. Not with this issue. This isn't about funding levels or political decisions. This is piss-poor leadership from all levels of government. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YASNY Posted December 7, 2006 Share Posted December 7, 2006 QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 7, 2006 -> 02:04 PM) I can't tell if you are being sarcastic, but, I agree with this - it doesn't mean a thing. Not with this issue. This isn't about funding levels or political decisions. This is piss-poor leadership from all levels of government. I was. But you have a good point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balta1701 Posted December 7, 2006 Share Posted December 7, 2006 QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 7, 2006 -> 12:04 PM) I can't tell if you are being sarcastic, but, I agree with this - it doesn't mean a thing. Not with this issue. This isn't about funding levels or political decisions. This is piss-poor leadership from all levels of government. So, one point I would like to raise, regardless of how corrupt the people in LA actually are, is that FEMA is not and has never been designed or taught how to be a reconstruction agency. Beyond just the fact that it is constantly loaded with political hacks who have little experience with anything other than supporting the party (with the exception to some extent being the Clinton Administration), FEMA is an EMERGENCY MANAGMENT association. Their job is to deal with emergency conditions, help provide relief, and save lives. There is absolutely no reason why FEMA should have been given the job of managing reconstruction funds. No one there would have any experience figuring out how to deal with those funds in the first place, and they would have been subject to all sorts of corrupt political whims from the people who the politicians stick at FEMA so that they have jobs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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