“The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.”
– President Barack Obama, Inauguration, 1/20/09
20,000 FEMA Katrina projects in limbo years later; feds can’t verify work done
More than nine years after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, billions of tax dollars in recovery funds remain in limbo because the vast majority of federally backed projects in New Orleans have yet to be properly documented. It is the job of the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, which has administered $14.5 billion in recovery grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency since 2005, to document that the projects were completed according to federal regulations and that there are no outstanding funding issues.
Without such certification, determining how many tax dollars might have been wasted, and by whom, is a nearly impossible task. Some of the uncertified projects have not even been started, even thought the funds were paid. An estimated 20,000 of the 24,000 projects that were funded with FEMA money have yet to be settled despite years of critical reports by the Department of Homeland Security inspector general.
Yup, we’re in the best of hands. One more example of the Federal Government trying to be everything to everyone and doing it all – and not succeeding very well at all at most of them. C’mon, “Heckava job, Brownie!” was the go to gag line against President Bush by the Obama Leftist crowd – media stays silent about this. While the tone of the article seems to put the burden on Louisiana, it is clear that the Feds failed to do their homework to keep up on all that they had going as that last line above states.
Project Management, after the work tasks have been figured and laid out, is all about follow up and holding accountability – in as real time as possible. It is clear that those in the Feds tasked with that accountability haven’t been all that accountable themselves. Reagan’s words of “Trust but verify” not only applied to the Soviets but to pretty much all projects as well.
And then they wonder why the phrase “I’m from the Government and I’m here to help” still rings rather hollow years after it was first uttered.
(H/T: Washington Examiner)
