FEMA oversight should go up as administration doles out storm relief

Congressional oversight over the White House’s emergency response agency
is expected to increase this month, as the administration prepares to dole out millions
of dollars in disaster aid to states recently ravaged by massive
storms.

President Obama declared a state of emergency for three states this
week – Maine, Oklahoma, and Missouri – as snow and ice blanketed the
regions, causing life and business to come to a virtual standstill.
State recovery efforts have begun, and with the president’s
announcement, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is free to
reimburse the governments for some of their recuperation costs.

On Friday, FEMA was approved to give disaster funds to New Jersey as
well for the snowstorm that struck it in late December. And last week
Obama made federal disaster aid available to southern California for its
efforts to recover from torrential storms in January and December. The
total amount of money expected to be given to the states will
undoubtedly run into the millions.

This latest spate of recovery announcements comes in the wake of an
unfavorable report by the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS)
inspector general suggesting that FEMA has improperly managed disaster
relief funds. The study, released last month, found that FEMA has yet to
recover more than $600 million that was given to people affected by
Hurricane Katrina.  

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is
expected to hold a hearing titled “Catastrophic Preparedness: How Ready
Is FEMA for the Next Big Disaster?” in the next several weeks. The
hearing, originally scheduled for this week, was postponed because of
the storms but will hear testimony from the head of FEMA Craig Fugate,
the inspector general for DHS Richard L. Skinner, and the director of
homeland security and justice issues at the Government Accountability
Office (GAO) William Jenkins Jr.

FEMA’s recovery efforts has received a torrent of criticism over the
past decade, especially for what many called a lackadaisical response
to residents of the Gulf area. As a result presidents George W. Bush and
Obama have tried to step up recovery efforts and response time.

At the height of the snowstorm this week, FEMA officials were
stationed at “emergency operations centers” in Arkansas, Connecticut,
Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, New Jersey, New York,
Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin. And after
issuing a series of national warnings related to the most recent series
of snowstorms, FEMA issued another message of caution to “all Americans”
on Friday that the fallout from the storms was not over and the public
should be careful.