Bipartisan Bill Introduced to Ensure Reconstruction Funds are Spent Wisely
WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 — A bipartisan pair of congressmen is determined to ensure that the convoy of ice-laden trucks intended for the stricken Gulf Coast region that rolled into Gloucester Monday is an aberration, not the norm.
Reps. John Tierney (D-Salem) and Jim Leach (R-Iowa) introduced legislation last week to ensure that “the people who are in need get what’s needed,” Tierney said.
The legislation would establish a select House committee made up of eight Republicans and seven Democrats to study the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s spending – and ensure that there are no more wayward supplies.
The committee’s goal would be to keep the public aware of how their tax dollars are being spent and to expose irregularities and bad decision-making before they can grow into the kind of problem Gloucester saw on Monday.
“It’s the kind of mismanagement that is intolerable and unnecessary,” Tierney said of the convoy gone astray. He added that it is “absurd” that FEMA’s national office is not communicating with its local people or its regional divisions.
Several congressional committees have had or are planning hearings looking at the failures that led up to the Gulf Coast disaster. Congressional GOP leaders had hoped to establish a joint House-Senate probe to investigate the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina, but that idea died in the face of Democratic refusal to participate because they would not have had equal representation on the committee.
The Tierney-Leach effort would differ because its mission is to oversee relief and reconstruction, not to determine what went wrong.. Tierney said that the bipartisan nature of the committee is important because of the public’s increasing distrust of the government.
“I think it’s essential that people understand this is not about politics,” he said. “It’s about helping people get what they need.
He added that it will not be the job of the committee to place blame, but that blame would be placed “automatically” as the facts become apparent.
The committee is modeled on the successful oversight committee headed by then-Sen. Harry Truman to investigate the awarding and management of defense contracts in World War II.
FEMA staff did not respond to a request for comment for this article.
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