5.19.2005
Report Calls Payments By FEMA Questionable (WashingtonPost.com)
NZDEMS: So close to an election, political appointees know better than to disappoint the boss. Besides many senior civil servants at FEMA would have recalled that the political damage caused to Bush I in 1992 -- when officials fumbled the recovery following Hurricane Andrew -- was almost as devastating to him as the storm's physical damage was to South Florida. It's no wonder nobody wanted to produce the sequel.
Investigators Cite $31 Million Disbursed in Florida
By John Mintz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 19, 2005; Page A25
The Federal Emergency Management Agency made $31 million in questionable payments to residents of Miami-Dade County for damage from Hurricane Frances last September even though the storm caused only minimal damage in that area of Florida, government investigators said yesterday.
More than $8 million of that amount was given to 4,300 people to rent temporary housing even though they had not asked for the money, and in many cases their homes were almost completely undamaged by the storm, according to the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security. The inspector general's report was made public yesterday at a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
FEMA paid to replace thousands of televisions, air conditioners, beds and other furniture, as well as a number of cars, without receipts, or proof of ownership or damage, and based solely on verbal statements by the residents, sometimes made in fleeting encounters at fast-food restaurants, said the committee's chairman, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).
"It was a 'pay first, ask questions later' approach," Collins said. "The inspector general's report identifies a number of significant control weaknesses that create a potential for widespread fraud, erroneous payments and wasteful practices."
(More ... Report Calls Payments By FEMA Questionable) ¶ 22:32
Investigators Cite $31 Million Disbursed in Florida
By John Mintz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 19, 2005; Page A25
The Federal Emergency Management Agency made $31 million in questionable payments to residents of Miami-Dade County for damage from Hurricane Frances last September even though the storm caused only minimal damage in that area of Florida, government investigators said yesterday.
More than $8 million of that amount was given to 4,300 people to rent temporary housing even though they had not asked for the money, and in many cases their homes were almost completely undamaged by the storm, according to the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security. The inspector general's report was made public yesterday at a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
FEMA paid to replace thousands of televisions, air conditioners, beds and other furniture, as well as a number of cars, without receipts, or proof of ownership or damage, and based solely on verbal statements by the residents, sometimes made in fleeting encounters at fast-food restaurants, said the committee's chairman, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).
"It was a 'pay first, ask questions later' approach," Collins said. "The inspector general's report identifies a number of significant control weaknesses that create a potential for widespread fraud, erroneous payments and wasteful practices."
(More ... Report Calls Payments By FEMA Questionable) ¶ 22:32
