Gov't credit cards for Katrina draw fire ($250,000 each for 250,000)

[barbaraann]

By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer 36 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Lawmakers and watchdog groups worry that allowing federal employees to charge up to $250,000 on their government-issued credit cards for Hurricane Katrina-related expenses will lead to a repeat of past abuses.
...
About 250,000 federal employees have government credit cards, which typically have a purchase limit of $2,500. At the request of the Bush administration, Congress increased the credit line to $250,000 as part of a massive Katrina recovery bill approved last week. The aim is to make it easier to speed aid to victims.
...
Purchases are billed directly to the government, making it difficult to recover losses from wayward federal employees intent on fraud because of the time lag from the purchase date to subsequent billing.
...
Cronyism also is a danger, as officials have more leeway under the higher limit to purchase more expensive supplies from politically connected companies without the benefit of open bidding and competition. Even if they're detected, time-strapped agency directors often don't pursue disciplinary action, according to audit reports.
...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/katrina_credit_cards

[Kelvin Mace]

1. This is the party

of fiscal repsonsibility?

Is my math off, or did they just make the taxpayer liable for up to $62.5 BILLION?

[barbaraann]

2. I can't even bear to do the math.

n/t

[lostnfound]

10. $62.5 billion. A drop in the bucket

compared to the Iraq war, but 26 times the 'one-time transfer' of $100 bills shipped to Iraq in a C130 plane.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0622-04.htm

[rwork]

5. That is what I

came up with to. It is also what they approved for Katrina.

[Kelvin Mace]

6. Oh, that's just what we want to do

Let's not finance this disaster with Treasury bonds at 4%, let's do it with credit cards at 29.9%

[barbaraann]

8. I wonder if these cards are all from one bank.

n/t

[ElsewheresDaughter]

23. yeah they are from here>>>>The Bank of China

[barbaraann]

24. Or maybe the Royal Bank of Scotland or Deutsche Bank.

I get credit card solicitations from those banks and it really freaks me out.

[WhiteTara]

9. you can add n/t

[KansDem]

3. Hey! How do I get one of those cards???

Have I been "pre-approved," yet?

[matcom]

4. FLASH: Gov't Tries To Declare Bankruptcy But Bankruptcy Bill Prevents It

:crazy:

[underpants]

7. Whoo hoo more fake boobies for strippers!!!!!

Yaaaaaaaaaaay! Your tax dollars at work!!!!

[Tesha]

11. Your "American Excess" card -- don't leave D.C. without it! (NT)

[Eurobabe]

12. rinse, lather, repeat

Do as I do, not as I say.

[Betsy Ross]

13. I was so excited. I thought there was a mistake

in the debit cards. Yeah, give the homeless a quarter-million each!

[northzax]

14. this is misleading

the government cards I know of bill to the holder, who then submits the bill to his/her office for payment.

[confludemocrat]

15. Gvt Purchase cards bill direct to gvt, but you must account for every cent

Or they yank it. I have one. This is way overblown. No way you can prevent some abuse like anything else, but there are penalties like everything else. Firing, Prison.

[northzax]

16. my girlfriend's bill comes to her house

and the government cuts her a check to pay for it.

maybe the Smithsonian does it differently, but she is a federal employee.

[confludemocrat]

18. She might have a gvt travel card --that's different that's mailed home

The story is correct, the purchase card bill goes to the gvt.

[northzax]

19. ahh, didn't notice the difference

thanks-

[confludemocrat]

21. Why they are treated differently who knows

But malfeasence with money is truly only penalized at the lower levels (civil rights, abuse etc.,is not enforced, only money stuff), it takes a whistleblower to make upper gov people answerable, last two agency heads of my agency fell that way,and of course the man at the top is never made to account

[barbaraann]

20. And who would enforce the penalties?

The Bush Justice Department? The people who sent Martha Stewart to prison but have not brought Ken Lay to trial?

[roseBudd]

17. voted it up n/t

[MeasureTwice]

22. I am of 2 minds on this.

It does make sense in the circumstances to raise the limits on some purchase cards, so that the emergency workers in the area can do what's needed without having to arrange things with their office, and credit cards are more widely and quickly accepted than government purchase orders.
But raising the limit for everyone doesn't make sense. Don't they have a list of people that are actually in the area? do they really have that many government employees with purchase cards down there? Or is it that they just have no idea of who's working down there, so they upped the limit for everyone.

[barbaraann]

25. Good points.

My guess is that if the Republicans are doing it, it's been done corruptly.

[WildClarySage]

26. How about hiring some of the displaced Katrina evacuees

to review the statements and check them for fraud? You could save the government the cost of the fraudulent purchases while giving the people a short-term employment solution- paying them a fair wage, and you'd still come out way ahead on the savings...

Nah, that would be a sensible thing to do.

[tanyev]

27. Wooooo-hooooo!

Is that how Condi paid for her Ferragamos?