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by Donald H.
Harrison
January 26, 2005
U.S. Rep.
Robert Wexler (D-Fla) has urged President Bush to fire Michael Brown as
undersecretary of the Homeland Security Department in charge of the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
Wexler cited reports in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that FEMA
under Brown's management inappropriately gave away $30 million in disaster
relief funds to people in the Miami, Florida, area even though they were
not affected by Hurricane Frances, which made landfall more than 100 miles
away.
In his letter to Bush, Wexler wrote: "According to several news accounts
by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 'FEMA has written checks to
cover new wardrobes, cars, lawn mowers, vacuum cleaners, furniture and
thousands of televisions, microwave ovens, stoves, air conditioners and
other appliances.' In addition, the Sun-Sentinel cites that FEMA
paid $4,500 for one resident’s funeral, even though the county medical
examiner recorded no storm-related deaths. Another Sun-Sentinel
article stated that two residents received aid for 'dental treatments due
to dental injuries received during the disaster.' In six other cases, FEMA
reimbursed residents for damage caused by 'ice/snow.'"
In a Jan. 24 news release, Wexler added: "On Monday, January 11, FEMA held
a news conference acknowledging that they made $12 million in overpayments
to 3,500 individuals — blaming these overpayments on a 'computer glitch.'
FEMA, however, continues to deny additional systematic problems and cites
the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to prove that there
were legitimate hurricane conditions in Miami-Dade. Yet, according to the
Sun-Sentinel, NOAA has refuted the weather maps FEMA claims to
have obtained from them. As the head of FEMA, Under Secretary Brown
oversees federal disaster response and recovery operations, and it is
negligent of him to refuse to accept responsibility for its agency
mistakes."
“Rather than taking responsibility for FEMA’s mishaps and moving
expeditiously to correct the
problems, Under Secretary Brown has further undermined his agency’s
reputation by stymied
investigations and inquiries into fraud allegations," Wexler added. "FEMA’s
massive misallocation of recovery aid is a gross waste of taxpayer
monies, which must be immediately addressed by the Bush Administration,”
Wexler said.
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