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Thursday, September 07, 2006
GAO: Inadequate Transparency in Katrina Spending
The Government Accountability Office has released several reports on U.S. disaster preparedness. You can find the reports here.
One of GAO's main findings supports claims by the Brookings Institute that there's been inadequate transparency for Katrina-related spending. Across the board, government agencies are not tracking and reporting how they've been using funds for the recovery. If they have been doing it, they've mostly botched it. From CongressDailyAM (sub.):
For example, FEMA's Sept. 28, 2005, report stated it had allotted $2.2 billion to the Defense Department for cleanup activities. Since then it has amended its reports twice to show that actual Pentagon spending has been roughly half that amount. On the other hand, internal Pentagon reports show the agency had only spent about $481 million as of April 5 -- less than half of even FEMA's sharply reduced estimate.
USA Today also has a good story on the GAO reports, via Think Progress. Key quote:
Congress needs to know "how much federal funding has been spent and by whom, whether more may be needed, or whether too much has been provided," the GAO said. Taxpayers and hurricane victims also should be able to find out how the money's being spent, one report said.
Too bad another hold has been put on the contracts and grants database bill. It wouldn't do much for Katrina spending, since it would take effect years from now. But it could help prevent the waste, fraud, and feet-dragging that have so hampered the recovery effort. It's terrible, but it seems like learning from our mistakes and holding people accountable might be the best we can do for New Orleans. Or maybe it's the least we can do.
Posted by Matt Lewis
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