FEMA Is Not Spending Katrina Funds Wisely
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in General Politics, Science
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has recouped less than 1 percent of the $1 billion that investigators contend it squandered on fraudulent assistance, according to the Government Accountability Office. Its report shows the disaster relief agency’s struggles, one year after the deadly storm, to rush aid to those in need while also preventing abuse.Last week, a federal judge in Washington ordered the Bush administration to resume housing payments for thousands of people displaced by Katrina. The ruling, which FEMA is appealing, cited a convoluted process for applying for help.
“Our work shows for individual assistance payments, at least tens of thousands of individuals took the opportunity to commit fraud,” said Gregory Kutz, who works for Congress’ investigative arm. He said his previous $1 billion estimate of wasted aid was now “likely understated.”
“I hope FEMA has learned the costly lesson and will make reforms for future disasters,” Kutz said at a Senate hearing.
Can we do better? Oh yes…
But when, and how?
This entry was posted on Thursday, December 7th, 2006 and is filed under General Politics, Science. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
December 7th, 2006 at 10:09 am
The relevant question is why is there an expectation that government agencies spend wisely? Time and time again, whether it’s FEMA or your local county transit agency, there are too many competing political requirements that hinder its ability to be “efficient” — and then efficiency is in the eye of the beholder.
Makes you wonder why people still believe that government should be responsible for all types of services.
December 9th, 2006 at 11:27 am
Pretty cynical comment Sanif, government overhead in dispensing healthcare dollars under Medicare/Medicaid is 2%. Private insurers, around 40% (because of profit, primarily). Think private enterprise can do better here? Add up the total costs and try to buy private flood and hurricane insurance for that amount. Let me know how you fare.
As Tompaine so succinctly put it “Conservatives’ contempt for government is at the root of the failed response to the hurricane… The report chronicles the three conservative failures of Katrina — the failure to prepare, the failure to respond and the failure to rebuild… Katrina offered an opportunity to rebuild a city on a model of high road development — high wage, low waste, efficient use of energy — rather than “race to the bottom” capitalism. The opportunity is lost, not because of natural disaster, but because of catastrophic conservatism and its scorn for government purpose” The link is here: http://alternet.org/katrina/41016/