FEMA does have auditors!

A little irony for your Wednesday.

A month after CNN reported that FEMA stored $85M worth of goods earmarked for Katrina recovery for two years, then turned the goods over to random state agencies, FEMA is now set to deny $1M to the city of Waveland.

According to the Sun Herald, FEMA is going to "de-obligate" $1M to the city of Waveland based on their auditors recommendations.

A report was released July 17 on the audit, which spanned a period of Aug. 29, 2005 to Jan. 23, 2007, and examined $14.2 million in FEMA funds for nine large projects. Mayor Tommy Longo said Tuesday he had just finished a lengthy meeting with FEMA officials on the report.

Of the total, examiners for the Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General's staff recommended $1,020,156 be "de-obligated." If the recommendation stands, that amount would not be provided to the city for work already performed.

The story goes on to say:

They also questioned the work of a debris removal-monitoring company that oversaw the three-phase ditch project. They said work done amounted to less than amounts claimed on reporting tickets, and that addresses listed on some tickets did not exist. They recommended future reimbursements to the city be withheld in the ditch cleaning until the validation process is completed.

In addition, the report questioned repayment of $128,637 in overtime costs for city police, fire, and public works employees in November and December 2005. Examiners concluded the overtime was incurred "for general routine work of the departments and not for activities associated with providing emergency protective measures after the disaster."

The report also questioned $891,519 in expenses the city claimed for road-debris removal auditors said should have been covered by the Federal Highway Administration instead of FEMA. That, too, should not be paid by FEMA, auditors recommended.

Longo said the discrepancies in the ditch project occurred because federal examiners could not find some of the ditches involved, and that some streets could not even be located by examiners because Katrina wiped out street signs throughout the city. He added inspections of the ditch work were not begun until long after the work was done. "They came 15 months after the project was completed," he said.

Longo said the city is appealing the audit's determination to withhold the payment on $891,519. He expects the issue to be concluded in the city's favor in late September.

Leave it to the federal government to dispute $1M after spending BILLIONS in Iraq, diverting money for affordable housing post-Katrina, hiding $85M worth of supplies, and creating a huge health epidemic by distributing poisonous trailers along the Coast.

FEMA trailer manufacturer knew of toxic trailers but sent them to Mississippi and Louisiana anyway

Wednesday, Henry Waxman (D-CA) levied strong charges against the manufacturers of the FEMA trailers used after Hurricane's Katrina and Rita. The trailers contained toxic levels of formaldehyde, a chemical used in the manufacturing of mobile homes. Congressman Waxman led hearings on the toxic trailers and came away blaming both governmental failure as well as industry greed for the horrible situation.

From the USA Today:

Gulf Stream, the main supplier of travel trailers for displaced victims of Hurricane Katrina, knew of high levels of formaldehyde in some of the trailers, but did not tell anyone because it regarded the situation as a public relations and legal matter, not a public health issue, the Democratic chairman of a House oversight committee said Wednesday.

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who convened hearings on the trailer issue, said internal documents from Gulf Stream, which provided the trailers to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, showed the company had found "pervasive formaldehyde in its trailers, and didn't tell anyone."

Gulf Stream received over $500 million from FEMA for 50,000 trailers for Gulf Coast residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Bennie Thompson stands up for Hurricane Katrina victims... again

Congressman Bennie Thompson, the longtime representative of Mississippi's second congressional district, called for a probe into the Katrina aid diversion scandal. As widely reported by the major news outlets as well as here at Cotton Mouth, millions of dollars of Katrina aid intended for the victims ended up in the hands of state agencies. Congressman Bennie Thompson, the peoples representative, has called for a hearing into what he rightly terms a "debacle".

From a CNN article:

"We just think that FEMA needs to come and tell the committee how such a debacle could occur, and in the process, what are they going to do to assure Congress and the taxpaying public that it will never happen again," Thompson said.

The household goods were meant to help Gulf Coast households rebuild. But they sat in FEMA warehouses for two years before the agency declared them surplus property and gave them away in February.

The state of Louisiana had not asked for any of the supplies, prompting outrage there after the original CNN report. Since then, the state has taken steps to claim some of the stockpiles and distribute them to groups working to resettle victims of Hurricane Katrina, the 2005 storm that flooded New Orleans and ravaged the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Mississippi took the supplies it was offered but did not give them to Katrina victims. Instead, as CNN reported this week, the state distributed them to prisons, volunteer fire departments, colleges and other state agencies.

Thompson said he was stunned at how Mississippi officials made "a mockery of the whole process."

"I'm disappointed that my state decided that prisoners had a higher priority than Katrina victims and has made no effort to correct it even when this mistake was made," he said.

"Any time items intended for victims of Katrina end up in the hands of the Department of Corrections or state employees, then clearly, Mississippi dropped the ball."

HUD finally approves $350 million housing plan, thank you Bennie Thompson

It has been a long three years for the working poor of south Mississippi. Solid, working-class families saw their lives turned upside down by the massive storm surge of Katrina. Homes and jobs were gone for many in the blink of an eye. Some have been able to escape to the refuge of relatives or friends out of town, yet many have remained trapped in FEMA trailers tainted with poisonous fumes, or if lucky a FEMA cottage. In fact according to Bennie Thompson in testimony to a House subcommittee, there are still over 5,000 Mississippians still living in temporary housing as a result of Katrina.

After watching Haley Barbour align support for hijacking $600 million in HUD funds intended for lower income housing it was good to read this today in the Sun Herald.

On Wednesday Steve Preston, the secretary of the U.S. Housing and Urban Development, accepted a $350 million plan from Mississippi to build thousands of affordable housing units for working families.

The project, titled Mississippi's Long-Term Work Force Housing Plan, will provide grants and loans to local communities, nonprofit organizations and private developers to build 12,000 affordable homes in Hancock, Harrison, Jackson and Pearl River counties.

I want to thank Bennie Thompson for his most diligent work on getting real justice for the forgotten victims of Hurricane Katrina. As long as Bennie Thompson is in Washington, those 5,000 Mississippians without a home will have a voice.

Congressman Bennie Thompson Takes On Barbour On Housing And Recovery

Families displaced by Hurricane Katrina need our continued help. As of last Friday, there were still 5,741 Mississippi families living in FEMA provided temporary housing units.

One of the major obstacles in providing housing for disaster victims has been the reluctance of Mississippi’s leaders to provide assistance to those who need it the most. Last September, the Governor stated that “housing is, and will continue to be, the most pressing issue facing Coastal recovery.” Despite that statement, the Governor requested and received permission from HUD to reprogram $600 million intended for the construction of low and middle income housing for a port expansion project.

In response to this I, along with eleven other Members of the House, have sent a letter to the Appropriations Committee asking them to prevent the State from using these funds to expand the port. This is a question of priorities. Economic development is critical to the recovery of the coast, but how can the state justify moving forward when low and middle income families are being forced to move out-of-state because there are no locally based affordable housing options?

In addition, the National Deficit and Reduction Act of 2005 provided Mississippi with $700 million to help restore health care in the disaster area and provide the State with the ability to match Federal grants for hurricane relief. Somehow, these funds wound up going to the State’s general fund, where the Governor tried to use them to raise judicial salaries. To make matters worse, the Governor attempted to divert additional hurricane relief funds to improve a highway in north Mississippi that leads to a Toyota plant.

It is a question of priorities. Apparently providing affordable housing solutions to the victims of Hurricane Katrina is not high on some priority lists.

In better news, the Committee on Homeland Security along with the Financial Services Committee joined forces on Wednesday to pass H.R. 6276, the Public Housing Disaster Relief Act of 2008, that I cosponsored with Congressman Childers (D-MS) and Congressman Cazayoux (D-LA). This will streamline federal funding to help repair public housing units that receive damage during future disasters.

The Committee on Homeland Security has also held several hearings exploring the high levels of formaldehyde in FEMA supplied travel trailers - we have to make sure that we provide health care for those that FEMA may have put in danger. In response to this, Congressman Barrow (D-GA) and I introduced the Travel Trailer Health Registry Act. This will require FEMA to work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to create a health registry of those who lived in travel trailers, provide health screenings to these individuals, and track their health status as we move into the future.

We must hold Federal agencies accountable for their mistakes, especially when their mistakes endanger the health of disaster victims. As we move forward, I pledge to work with any and all Members of Congress who share my priorities--to hold FEMA and HUD accountable and rebuild the Gulf Coast.

- Homeland Security Committee Chair Congressman Bennie Thompson (MS-02)

Representative Thompson to testify on post-Katrina housing

As reported by the Sun Herald in an Associated Press article, Congressman Bennie Thompson will testify today to a subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Thompson, who is chairman of House Homeland Security Committee, will address the continued need for permanent housing for those displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

Thompson says that nearly three years after Katrina, about 300 families are still living in hotels and motels and more than 5,000 are in temporary housing.

Thompson says he will make it clear to the Federal Emergency Management Agency that coast housing needs to be a priority.

Thanks for all you do Representative Thompson. Keep up the good work.

Childers manages first bill on floor

Congressman Childers took up HR 6276 today. The bill would allow FEMA to give money to assist the rebuilding of public housing after a natural disaster. As we know from what's happened on the Coast, re-building public/affordable housing is a huge issue after a natural disaster.

From a press release earlier today:

Congressman Childers to manage first bill on House floor
today

Washington, DC – Congressman Travis W. Childers will manage a bill on the floor of the House of Representatives for the first time around 12:00 P.M. Eastern Time today.

The legislation that Congressman Childers will manage is styled H.R. 6276, the "Public Housing Disaster Relief Act of 2008", which removes Section 9 (K) of the United States Housing Act of 1937. H.R. 6276 strikes that section of the Housing Act in order to reduce red tape for public housing authorities to get natural disaster relief assistance from FEMA.

"Basically, this legislation removes bureaucratic red tape," Congressman Childers said about the bill. "And, it also eliminates a sense of ambiguity between two federal agencies who are putting fingers at one another, which is the last thing they should be doing in the event of a natural disaster."

To date, Section 9 (K) has never been funded, and FEMA has continually cited this section for the reasons why they are not allocating funding to rebuild Public Housing Authorities that have been destroyed by a natural disaster. The Housing Act is statutorily written such that the Department of Housing and Urban Development has authority under section 9 (K) to disburse funds to public housing authorities in the event of a disaster; however, no money has ever been appropriated for Section 9 (K) since it was authorized into law.

Congressman Childers is managing the legislation as part of his responsibilities of serving on the prestigious Financial Services Committee in the House of Representatives. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the costs of H.R. 6276 will be zero over 5 years, meaning the bill conforms to PAYGO rules which Congressman Childers staunchly supports.

Roger Wicker Voted Against Providing Shelter To People Left Homeless By Hurricanes

As we’ve shown you here and here Roger Wicker seems determined to whitewash his record of failing the Coast. This is example #3 of how Roger Wicker failed our Gulf Coast and why for showing such lack of foresight he should not be allowed to serve as one of Mississippi’s United States Senators.

Roger Wicker was the only member of the Mississippi delegation to vote against extending FEMA assistance.

In 2007, Wicker was the only member of the Mississippi House delegation to vote against an amendment to the Gulf Coast Hurricane Housing Recovery Act that would extend FEMA housing assistance for evacuees of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma until December 31, 2007 and provide tenant-based rental assistance upon termination of FEMA housing assistance.

Roger Wicker is no “longtime friend of the Gulf Coast” as he claimed in his first ad.

If you’ve got a suggestion on why Roger Wicker is bad for Mississippi in general or bad for the Coast specifically please e-mail us at cottonmouthblog AT gmail DOT com or leave a comment.

Katrina funds will likely be diverted

Despite the best efforts of the people along the Gulf Coast and national media, HUD funds for rebuilding homes destroyed by Katrina will likely end up in a $600M port project.

From MSNBC today:

“It’s just insanity, true insanity,” said Sister Martha Milner, a Catholic nun and board member of the Steps Coalition, the loudest voice on the Gulf Coast against the diversion of the funds.

The article, like all the others, tells the very disturbing story of an unchecked Governor only working for the interest of big business. The lies and deceit are unending.

Mississippi, with the highest poverty rate of any state by several measures, already had won HUD waivers of rules that require the funds to benefit low- and moderate-income residents. Critics see the waivers as a product of the unparalleled influence with the Bush administration enjoyed by Barbour, a former Reagan White House political director, Republican National Committee chairman and legendary fixer who continues to receive checks from the Washington lobbying shop that still bears his name.
________________

Barbour’s current position that part of the housing grant pool was always intended for the port is at odds with his March 2006 testimony before a Senate committee, in which he emphasized that the CDBG money was mostly committed to housing and sought new funds for the port. A year later, Gray Swoope, executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority, did not mention port funding in testimony before Congress about the use of grant funds a few months before the new port master plan was adopted.

Another sad day in Mississippi. Thousands of people are still in FEMA trailers or other FEMA housing and deserve a chance to have a real roof over their heads.

Cindy Singletary of Living Independence For Everyone, one of 50 nonprofit, religious and social advocacy groups that make up the Steps Coalition, sees the move to divert the housing funds as a bait-and-switch maneuver. “I have nothing against the port itself,” she said. “The main thing I’m against is the priority of it. … We have jobs on the coast. There’s ‘help wanted’ signs everywhere. But we don’t have homes, we don’t have apartments. … That, to me, should be the No. 1 priority for Mississippi.”

Washington Post on Katrina Recovery

Not to steal Trent Lott's thunder, but the Washington Post reported on the economic divide with Katrina recovery. If you have been reading any of the environmental reports from the Coast for the past two decades, you'll see that the Mississippi Gulf Coast is very polluted and does not create the same tourism that the cleaner waters of Destin might attract.

From the Washington Post/MSNBC online:

Even as the storm's debris was being cleared, this city's night sky was lighted up with the high-wattage brilliance of the Imperial Palace, then the Isle of Capri, then the Grand Casino. More followed, and so did vacation-condo developers.

Yet in the wrecked and darkened working-class neighborhoods just blocks from the waterfront glitter, those lights cast their colorful glare over an apocalyptic vision of empty lots and scattered trailers that is as forlorn as anywhere in Katrina's strike zone.

I hope others don't feel guilty like this gentleman. Louisiana had a far more progressive plan (outlined in the article) to help its low-income and middle-class residents.

Earl Parrish, 72, a retired pipe fitter, and his wife, Betty, are still living in their grandson's home in Ocean Springs, the next town over, trying to put their Hoxie Street house back together on a limited budget.

They received about $50,000 from the housing grant program, but it was not nearly enough to complete the job. Katrina flooded their house with about six feet of water.

They have put in their own savings, and a Lutheran church group handled a lot of the labor. But their home is not quite ready for them to move in -- it has no furniture.

Like his neighbors, Earl Parrish opposes redirecting the housing aid to the port. But he seemed to regret making a complaint.

"We're grateful for what we got -- don't misunderstand," he said. "But the people around here were just working folks who didn't have much. You see all these empty lots around here? These are people who just can't afford to come back."

My Letter in the Clarion Ledger

Barbour's leadership didn't fix everything

In a recent letter ("Barbour's post-Katrina leadership shows," Sept. 9), Glenn L. McCullogh Jr. praised the governor's response to Hurricane Katrina. He gave Gov. Haley Barbour the "Holy Haley" treatment, saying Haley was like a "lighthouse beacon."

I must respectfully disagree, as:

- Our congressional delegation, led by then-Senate Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran working in a bipartisan way, won us the reconstruction dollars we so desperately needed.

- The situation with thousands still living in FEMA trailers and neighborhoods still without life in communities like Biloxi and Gulfport is unacceptable.

- Some $1 billion disbursed isn't so impressive when you consider the additional $1 billion wasted.
As a citizen of our fine Gulf Coast, I can understand how folks from outside the Coast think everything is fixed, but the truth is it isn't, and we need help.

We won't get that help until we face the truth about our leadership.

John Leek

The Clarion Ledger picked the title: Barbour's leadership didn't fix everything

Finding Katrina Trailers For What?

From the Sun Herald:

The Federal Emergency Management Agency says its still has travel trailers at 1,200 addresses in Pearl River County. County building inspectors are tracking them down.

They lost them?

Pichon said so far he has received no instructions other than to locate all the travel trailers and report on the status of them.

"They told us to go out and find these travel trailers and see how many are occupied and how many have pulled permits and are making progress," Pichon said in a http://www.picayuneitem.com article.

So once they find them they are just going to catalog them?

"FEMA gave us a list and asked us to help out, but we don't know where it's going to lead. FEMA asked the county to see if people are building or if they (the travel trailers) are just sitting there vacant," Lumpkin said.

Well I hope FEMA knows what it is doing besides buying back poisoned trailers. Transparency is a necessity. It's unfortunate we don't have it.

The Sun Herald Article

Barbour's New Ad "From Day One" (Haley Was Screwing Us)

"from day one Haley Barbour has worked for all of us"

That is unless you have kids who might start smoking, need healthcare, care about ethics, or even eat.

"doubled workforce training"

I wonder how much of that is specific to Katrina and then how many of those programs Barbour actually had much of a hand in.

"i want people to look at my record" (over a billion wasted dollars, thousands in FEMA trailers, communities struggling, vetoed ethics and anti-tobacco legislation, family members profiting, etc.)

Well good, I look forward to covering it in the coming months. It sure ain't sunshine and lollipops.

Dirt, Dead Bodies, and White House Dirt Bags

by Ana Maria



Cities, counties and parishes (Louisiana’s version of counties) have been fighting with the Office of Inspector General over the federal government’s stinginess when it comes to reimbursing local governments for funds they spent on the Katrina’s clean up. My piece titled When You’re Up to Your Ass in Alligators discussed the incredible financial burden that the locals have undergone because the federal government—i.e. the Bush Administration— is making it unreasonably difficult to obtain the millions and millions of federal tax dollars that are to reimburse these funds.

Perhaps this is the administration’s unstated “hang ‘em out to dry” philosophy in action. Clearly, the net result is to have abandoned Americans in their time of need. Whether the Administration abandoned those who climbed on the roofs after the levees broke in New Orleans or those who climbed through the muck and mud to coordinate the post-Katrina clean up efforts, the way the Bush Administration continues to treat us sure does feel like this is part of the White House’s “leave all citizens behind” philosophy in action.

The stories I hear about how Bush’s FEMA and the Office of Inspector General have treated the officials who had to make do in the worst of circumstances makes my blood boil. The drone-like responses coming from agencies lead by those who rose to power through proclaiming their compassion burn me up. I’ll share a story with you. Read more . . .

FEMA Failures Meet Democratic Oversight

"We have lost a great deal through our dealings with FEMA," said Paul Stewart, a former Army officer living in a trailer with his wife in Mississippi, "not the least of which is our faith in government."

When a retired military officer has lost faith in Bush’s government, that is a bell weather indicator of what many of us predicted since that horrendous day back in December 2000.

You remember that day in December in which the United States Supreme Court legally stopped the vote counting in a U.S. election. The self-proclaimed greatest democracy on the planet no longer believed that counting the votes counted in determining an election outcome. The case was Bush v. Gore, and a New York Times editorial last August summarized it succinctly.

The Supreme Court’s highly partisan resolution of the 2000 election was a severe blow to American democracy . . ..

And what we’ve learned since that day is just how true it is when we say that elections have consequences. Here we are with another set of scandals that negatively impact American lives directly in a real and palpable manner. One scandal centers on millions of dollars of ice for hurricane survivors melting in the sun. The other on FEMA deliberately weighing the cost of lawsuits against testing for the adverse health effects of its formaldehyde-filled trailers. Read more . . .

Update (John Leek): Paul Stewart is now running for Southern District Transportation Commissioner. He may just get my vote. :)