FEMA Lets Down the Stimulus Cause in Post-Katrina Louisiana
A massive effort to fix public works destroyed more than three years ago by the Gulf Coast hurricanes remains largely stalled, leaving more than $3.9 billion in federal aid unspent and key repairs far from complete…..
Nearly 3½ years after those storms hit, new FEMA accounting reports show two-thirds of the money to pay for permanent rebuilding work still has not been spent, the latest bottleneck in a recovery long beset by criticism that it has been too slow and inefficient…..
State and local officials say FEMA puts too many restrictions on how that money can be spent. "The whole process is bogged down," says Louisiana Recovery Authority Director Paul Rainwater, who coordinates the state's efforts.
Of course, while the locals blame FEMA, FEMA blames the locals. FEMA man James Stark
says most of the delays are caused by local governments trying to wring more money out of the federal government, sometimes ignoring legal limits on what disaster aid can pay for.
Link via Rational Review.
