Tim Huelskamp: “My amendment seeks to ensure maximum transparency in a process which will see billions of taxpayer dollars distributed…”

“My amendment seeks to ensure maximum transparency in a process which will see billions of taxpayer dollars distributed through FEMA grants. While I appreciate that a provision was included to require the disclosure of grants over $1 million, I believe we owe it to the taxpayers to do even more. My amendment strikes the $1 million threshold for disclosure, and it requires the details of all grants distributed under FEMA's disaster relief program to be disclosed. Recently, a town in California was the subject of a FEMA Inspector General investigation. The FEMA IG found that the grantee received $830,000 following a recent flood. The town in question spent all of the allocated grant money and has requested reimbursement for $769,000 more. Among the inappropriate expenditures were a host of purchases that had nothing to do with the equipment damaged by the flood, including new chairs, computers, telephones, lamps, and a microwave. FEMA rejected the claim, fining these and numerous other attempts to claim reimbursement outside of the scope of the flood as well as outside of the terms of the grant. While I commend FEMA for catching this attempted fraud, the sheer volume of grants that will come as a result of Sandy necessitates maximum transparency at the beginning of the process. My amendment requires just that. Let me give you one other example.…”