After a six-month-long investigation of FEMA, brought about by the anger citizens of hurricane-ravaged counties felt at the agency's paying out of $31 million to residents of an undamaged Miami-Dade County, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs has released its official findings.
In the past, FEMA director Michael Brown, possessed of the world's sunniest disposition, has brushed aside criticism, seeing the glass as half-full. The Senate committee's roundhouse to the side of his head should finally wake him from his happy dreams. His inability to admit there was anything wrong has been a source of frustration to a good many people.
There are signs that the agency is already making some changes. This week, post-Hurricane Dennis, damage inspectors going out to homes are actually taking pictures.
Reforms suggested by the senators include:
• More accurate declaration of counties eligible for disaster relief to prevent federal aid going to communities with minimal storm damage.
• Numerous improvements to the agency's Individuals and Households Program to ensure accurate home inspections, prevent rental vouchers from being misspent and eliminate the "generic room" concept to reduce excessive personal property awards.
• Senators also called on the agency to improve its inspector work force by offering better training, completing criminal background checks before sending workers to a disaster zone, and establishing standards to ensure inspectors recuse themselves from situations that present an appearance of a conflict of interest.
• The agency also was asked to adopt guidelines for determining whether a death was disaster-related, including a requirement to document each request for funeral expense assistance. After Hurricane Frances, the agency reimbursed families for funeral expenses even though the deaths were not officially attributed to the storm.
The committee also stated that if FEMA does not make the recommended reforms voluntarily, that they themselves will do it with legislation.
Posted by floridacracker at July 12, 2005 09:34 AMIt's not just FEMA. I don't know about anyone else but I'm suspecting that one beaureaucrat is another federal agency's beaureaucrat (I probably spelled 'beaureaucrat' wrong, such that I'm probably no longer qualified for anything on the federal level).
The federal, well, organizations, are rife with lifetime employees who really do underestimate and undervalue the importance of the individual citizen. And who are not empowered to resolve problems on behalf of individuals.
The area that I always find humiliating is, after individual service and very hard work on behalf of our nation and my sense of society in that nation, particularly, that my very worth as an individual is quickly dismissed by any federal employee without so much as a thanks or an acknowledgement of value. It must be something they learn, I just don't know, but I'd sure be interested in reading why people who are employed by the nation seem to all be quite so antisocial, and think so little of citizens. I really do not have a clue as to why that is.
Posted by: -S- at July 14, 2005 09:12 PM