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Friday, September 23, 2005
FEMA Report Vague on how Money is Being Spent
By law, the Secretary of Homeland Security must provide Congress with weekly reports detailing how FEMA is spending Katrina relief funds. The first report was sent to Congress September 15, and the second was sent yesterday. According to Rep. David Obey (D-WI) -- ranking member on the House Appropriations Committee -- the second report sent to Congress has virtually no details in it, much like the first report.
Obey said, "We asked for specific information on how they are awarding contracts and who contracts are going to. Instead of telling us who is doing what and how, we got a few spreadsheets." In order to get spending details, Obey and Senate ranking member Robert Byrd (D-WV) had specifically sent a letter to the OMB. Their requests, however, were not heeded, and their letter never answered. Instead of knowing how the money is being spent, Obey said, "We don't know what the administration is doing because they don't know what they are doing. We don't know where the nearly $16 billion FEMA's allocated went, we don't know what they're planning to do with the $44 billion they've got left."
Posted by Becky Lewis
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