FEMA wants Hurricane relief Money Back (they really do)

[katty]

cont'd: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11930207/

FEMA wants its hurricane relief money back
Audit reveals 2 to 3 percent of recipients didn’t deserve the aid

MSNBC.com follows two towns as they rebuild after Katrina. Follow their progress through on-going stories and citizen diaries.
By Rehema Ellis
Correspondent
NBC News
Updated: 6:32 p.m. ET March 20, 2006


Rehema Ellis
Correspondent


NEW ORLEANS - Some $6.8 billion was given out in disaster relief funds last year following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The Federal Emergency Management Agency says some of the 1.7 million households that got relief money didn't deserve it. Now FEMA is trying to get the money back. How did this happen in the first place? Was it fraud, mismanagement or both?

Isaac Delandra is one of those who got $2,000 from FEMA after his home was flooded.

“The thing about it, we needed clothes because we left here with just the clothes on our back,” he says.

The Delandras are like hundreds of thousands of families that legitimately got hurricane relief money after the storms.

But there were problems, admits FEMA. Based on an audit, it says 2 to 3 percent of households that got relief money probably didn't deserve it. And now FEMA is sending out a letter to about 51,000 families asking for the money back — up to $100 million.

[ikojo]

1. Maybe the government should ask corporate America

to repay all the tax breaks they are given. If the government is so hard up for money why don't they rescind the tax cuts? Stop trying to balance the budget on the backs of the poor.

[katty]

2. should have years ago-bush&co, never, let's take from the

have-nots over and over again.

[acmavm]

5. As long as they're scrounging for money they need to go after all the

crooks have been ripping us off in Iraq. Start with Halliburton and work their way down.

Take a look at Bremer and Co.'s bank accounts while they're at it. Oh yes, try and figure out how much Chalabi has stolen so far too.

[katty]

8. FEMA's cont'd monumental incompetance and now THEY

want $?! hey, sell those vacant trailers, a-holes!

[Debau2005]

3. And I am sure

they are going to find the people that fell through the cracks and give them the recovered $100 million!:eyes:

[NanceGreggs]

4. Sorry, but if FEMA is so hot-shit on getting money back ...

... that they feel was wrongfully paid, why don't they start with the MILLIONS they handed out after a hurricane in Florida - where people who were not even in the storm's path were handed cash like it was going out of style. Even after the 'discrepancies' were public knowledge, not a RED CENT was ever retrieved.

Of course, I am sure it was COMPLETE COINCIDENCE that in the Florida situation, the people who undeservedly got TENS OF THOUSANDS each (and NO questions asked about proof-of-damage) got that money in-hand JUST BEFORE AN ELECTION IN WHICH JEB BUSH was running for re-election.

And dare I ask what's happening with those FEMA-paid-for mobile homes that are still sitting in ARKANSAS?

If they want their blood money back, they should start with CHERTOFF'S bank account ...

Sorry, but this REALLY pisses me off!

[katty]

7. it's a major piss off, chertoff, et al should write a personal check

it's beyond disgusting.

[fed-up]

6. They need it to give to Halliburton....nt

[EFerrari]

9. I hate these people. They are vilifying the very people

they are paid to serve.

I hate their fucking guts.

[NanceGreggs]

10. I hate their fucking guts.

I don't think you're going to get too many dissenters here!

This whole situation (along with SO MANY OTHERS these days) is beyond dispicable.

[EFerrari]

12. It's not a good feeling. It's as if we need to smudge our souls

after every contact with this cr@P.

[eppur_se_muova]

11. "2 to 3 percent"? SCANDALOUS!

Maybe they should demand an accounting of the money we've spent in Iraq -- I'll bet there's at least "2 or 3 percent" overcharging there.