Government Executive - Authors - Ben Evans

Panel blasts FEMA over new, higher fraud estimate

Ben Evans — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0400

Despite assurances from a FEMA official that the agency is improving its systems, Republicans and Democrats blasted the agency's leaders for not having better protections in place before the storms, particularly since similar misspending was found after previous disasters. They appeared set on moving legislation imposing stronger internal controls at the embattled agency.

"The situation has gotten worse," said Homeland Security Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, referring to a just-released Government Accountability Office report that found far more extensive fraud than previous inquiries, including examples of prison inmates repeatedly bilking the system to get checks and of aid recipients using their money to buy a Caribbean vacation and a $200 bottle of champagne at a Hooters restaurant.

With tight budgets, McCaul said, "we can't afford as a nation to have $1 billion in fraud."

Lawmakers also expressed frustration that FEMA Director David Paulison declined to testify at the hearing, instead sending an acting deputy director, Donna Daniels, to face difficult questioning.

"I personally think you've been put under the bus by being brought here," Homeland Security ranking member Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., told Daniels, saying that Paulison and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff "are absolutely the ones who should be held accountable for this."

Exacerbating their frustration was that Daniels said she was prepared to provide testimony regarding only an earlier, more limited GAO report released in February.

She said FEMA had not had time to respond to the new findings, which it received last week. McCaul said the agency knew the report was coming and had plenty of time to address it. Other lawmakers said the lack of response followed a pattern at FEMA.

"It [always] seems like you're a day late and a dollar short," said Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Fla. "I think the lack of responsiveness should be of concern to every member here."

Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., accused the agency of trying to downplay the findings. "I am less comfortable than when I came ... I still see pushback from FEMA," he said.

In their report, GAO investigators said FEMA had little if any controls for preventing dishonest citizens from cheating the system. As a result, individuals from across the country won claims for rental assistance, hotel vouchers, debit cards and aid checks by providing false names, Social Security numbers or addresses, often repeating their fraud again and again.

Gregory Kutz, a GAO investigator, expressed surprise that the agency did not appear to be conducting simple checks such as address verifications, which could have prevented cases where con artists submitted claims using post office boxes, vacant lots and cemeteries as their home addresses.

"That's fraud-prevention 101," Kutz said. "It seems so basic, but for some reason they were not doing it."

The $1 billion in misspending represents about 16 percent of the agency's overall assistance in response to the hurricanes. But Kutz said that figure probably underestimates the scale of the problem, which the report said could be as high as $1.4 billion.

Daniels said FEMA traditionally has held its waste and fraud rate to between 1 percent and 3 percent. But Katrina overwhelmed the agency's systems and procedures, she said, and FEMA leaders made the decision to meet victims' needs as quickly as possible, often using new and untested methods.

"FEMA has gone to great lengths to make sure it is a good steward of taxpayer dollars," she said, while balancing those safeguards with the immediate needs of victims in a crisis.

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Smithsonian leader faces scrutiny over salaries, film contract

Ben Evans — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0400

"I've heard concerns, and I have my own concerns, so I've got to get some answers," said Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, which has jurisdiction over the museum complex.

Lott's comments Tuesday came after Senate Finance Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote a letter to the Office of Management and Budget last week questioning Small's leadership and asking if the Bush administration still believes Small is "is the appropriate steward" of the organization.

A Finance aide said the committee is getting more questions about the Smithsonian every day "and that obviously leads to Small."

"I think a lot will depend on where the administration comes out," the aide said.

OMB officials have said they are still reviewing Grassley's letter, which also asks that Small be removed from the process of hiring a replacement for the outgoing Smithsonian inspector general. OMB did not respond to questions about whether the administration supports Small.

The House Administration Committee, meanwhile, continues to scrutinize the Showtime contract, which would give the network first option to produce most films and documentaries that use Smithsonian resources and would make those productions available only to cable subscribers.

At a hearing late last month, House Administration Chairman Vernon Ehlers, R-Mich., and other lawmakers sharply questioned the agreement, as well as Small's decision to enter into the contract without first consulting the committee.

Asked Tuesday whether Ehlers shares Grassley's skepticism of Small's leadership, committee spokesman Jon Brandt said he was "not in a position right now to make that kind of a statement, one way or the other ... Certainly there are many concerns that have been raised and we're seeking answers."

Small has maintained that the Showtime agreement is similar to other Smithsonian outreach programs, such as its magazine, aimed at promoting knowledge and education by making Smithsonian museums, experts and other resources more accessible to the public.

A Smithsonian spokeswoman said Tuesday that the institution's board this week reiterated its support for the contract.

Smithsonian officials also have defended their executive salaries by maintaining that the institution must offer competitive salaries to recruit the best people in the field. According to the institution's 2004 IRS filing, Small earned salary and benefits worth $813,065.

Lawmakers showed their disapproval of Smithsonian salaries last month as the House Appropriations Committee approved an Interior spending bill that would cut the institution's spending by $15 million and cap its salaries at the level of the U.S. president, currently $400,000.

The Smithsonian's inspector general also is investigating executive salaries and benefits, as well as accounting practices at Smithsonian Business Ventures, a commercial division of the organization that handled the Showtime contract.

At the same time, Grassley and others are raising new concerns about Small's former role as a Fannie Mae executive during the accounting scandal there.

A recent report from HUD's Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight listed Small as one of the Fannie Mae executives who encouraged employees to hit profit targets so senior managers would earn larger bonuses.

Small is not without support on Capitol Hill, however, with several lawmakers arguing that Smithsonian salaries are on par with other academic organizations or large museums and that spending cuts will only hurt the public.

Senate Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran, R-Miss., is one of several lawmakers serving on the Smithsonian's board. Asked Tuesday if he agreed with Grassley's concerns about Small, Cochran simply said "no" before walking onto the Senate floor.

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Subpanel votes to remove disaster housing from FEMA

Ben Evans — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0400

The bill (H.R. 5393), approved by voice vote, makes several other changes to federal disaster-declaration law aimed at easing the Gulf Coast's recovery from Katrina. The provisions include allowing only three trailers per site after a disaster to avoid the crowded Federal Emergency Management Agency trailer parks, and allowing disaster victims to decline a trailer without losing eligibility for other assistance.

FEMA, still in charge of housing some 10 months after Katrina struck late last August, has been criticized for its inflexible housing rules toward those whose homes whose were damaged or demolished in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama by the hurricane.

The measure is sponsored by Rep. Richard Baker, R-La., whose district includes Baton Rouge.

"Instead of the infuriatingly rigid rules that consign people to 'trailer cities,' this bill gives the government greater flexibility to offer more common-sense options and to mobilize creative alternatives that are safer, more attractive and more cost-effective in the long run," Baker said in a statement.

In instances where housing services may be needed for more than 30 days, the bill would allow the president to designate HUD as the lead agency in providing such housing.

The bill also would require federal, state and local governments to develop emergency evacuation plans specifically for disaster victims living in temporary FEMA trailers and calls for victims to be notified before trailers are delivered to their property.

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Panel votes to shift medical disaster system from DHS

Ben Evans — Thu, 25 May 2006 00:00:00 -0400

The committee approved the bill by voice vote.

The bill (H.R. 5438), sponsored by Dingell and committee Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas, calls for removing the National Disaster Medical System from the purview of Homeland Security within nine months. The system is charged with supporting federal agencies in managing and coordinating federal medical disaster response, including for natural disasters, bioterrorism attacks, technological disasters and major transportation accidents.

The measure places the system, which helps coordinate the federal response to major health and medical emergencies, back under the purview of the Health and Human Services Department, undoing a shift made in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The bill also seeks to defend against future jurisdictional incursions by codifying into law that HHS serves as the primary agency for addressing national health emergencies and disasters.

Committee ranking member Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., said Congress must "remain vigilant" against future attempts to grant new authority to Homeland Security "unless we want to see these agencies suffer the fate of [the Federal Emergency Management Agency]."

FEMA's performance during Hurricane Katrina was roundly criticized.

"The things we saw on the ground in the wake of [Hurricane] Katrina really underscored why we need to move that function back to [HHS]," said Rep Michael Burgess, R-Texas. The system - along with a host of other government functions - was transferred to Homeland Security under the 2002 Homeland Security Act.

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