FEMA asks for return of disaster aid

[Jolie Rouge]

Ryan J. Foley, Associated Press – 17 mins ago

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – After the raging Cedar River filled his home with 13 feet of water and ruined most of his possessions, Justin Van Fleet pleaded for help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to get back on his feet.

Dead broke and living in a FEMA trailer following the 2008 flood, Van Fleet repeatedly submitted paperwork and made countless phone calls arguing his case. After seven months, the agency finally gave him more than $20,000, which he said gave him his life back and allowed him to move into a house.

Then in March, a letter arrived from the government with a shocking message: He should never have gotten the money. And he had just 30 days to pay it all back.

The agency is asking Van Fleet and thousands of other Americans who were victims of natural disasters to return more than $22 million in government aid, acknowledging it mistakenly made payments to many people who were ineligible.

FEMA is required by law to recover improperly spent money, but most of the people who were helped say they used the cash years ago, and they don't want to be financially punished because of the agency's errors.

"It literally felt like everything is being taken away from me again," said Van Fleet, a 28-year-old call center worker. "It's like going through the flood again."

Documents obtained by The Associated Press show that FEMA is seeking payments from more than 5,500 people who were affected by 129 separate disasters since 2005, including floods, tornados, hurricanes and other calamities from Arkansas to American Samoa. The agency is still reviewing records, and more repayment requests could go out soon, including to victims of Hurricane Katrina.

FEMA admits the payments were largely its own fault — the result of employees who misunderstood eligibility rules, approved duplicate assistance for costs that were already covered by insurance or other sources, or made accounting errors. But the agency is still obligated to try to recover the money.

"We are committed to being responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars," spokeswoman Rachel Racusen said.

People who are asked to make repayments have several options. They may appeal the matter, apply for a hardship waiver that would forgive the debt or establish a payment plan. But after a spring marked by devastating tornadoes and floods, the agency's missteps illustrate the potential risk of accepting federal help.

The FEMA aid packages ranged from a few hundred dollars to as much as $27,000. In Van Fleet's case, the agency concluded that the aid was a duplication of benefits since he had flood insurance.

Van Fleet said his insurance payout went directly to his mortgage since the same company provided that policy and his home loan. And the mortgage aid didn't help him since he could neither rebuild nor sell the house, which was deemed worthless and slated for demolition by the government.

According to Van Fleet, two FEMA representatives who visited him at the trailer in 2008 said he should qualify for assistance because he did not receive an insurance payout. They explained how to appeal, and he prevailed on the third try. Now he is prepared to fight the agency again, and he is not alone.

Gary Guglielmana, 69, said the inside of the Mountain View, Ark., home where he and his wife retired was ruined when the White River flooded in March 2008. The couple initially received disaster aid of $1,200, and appealed for more. But they doubted they would qualify because they would be unable to get flood insurance, a requirement of federal aid, after their community opted out of the National Flood Insurance Program.

Guglielmana said a FEMA official told them not to worry. After an inspection of their house, the couple was qualified for another $26,000. They used the money to repair their home. In March, they received a letter telling them to pay back everything.

"That money really helped. We got the house back together, and we've been living in it since then," said Guglielmana, a retired general contractor. "And now they want the check back like we've been sitting on it for all this time. It makes no sense."

After being contacted by the Guglielmanas, Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas introduced a bill last month that would give FEMA discretion to waive debts in cases involving the agency's mistakes. The measure will be considered Wednesday by the Senate committee on homeland security, and Pryor said he hopes to make it law this year despite concerns about federal debt.

"I think most people would see this as a matter of fairness," Pryor said, recalling how Dorothy Guglielmana cried during a phone call with him. "This is not the victim's fault. They did nothing wrong. They just followed FEMA's directions."

Since 1982, the agency has been required by federal law to try to recoup improper payments. But until this spring, collection efforts had been on hold for nearly four years after a federal judge ordered the agency to give victims better, clearer notice about the process and their appeal rights.

A new process was still awaiting approval by FEMA Agency Administrator Craig Fugate when the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general criticized the agency last December for failing to collect $643 million in improper payments to victims of Katrina and subsequent disasters. That figure amounted to roughly 9 percent of the $7 billion the agency has given out since Katrina in 2005.

The inspector general's report called on Fugate to authorize a way to get the money back. So FEMA adopted a new process that it says is fairer for those affected, and the letters soon started going out.

FEMA insists it has fixed many of the problems in the aid program. The agency has slashed its error rate involving disaster payments from 14.5 percent after Katrina to about 3 percent in 2009, Racusen said.

FEMA's National Processing Service Center in Texas continues to review tens of thousands of other cases that might involve improper payments and plans to send out more notices in the coming months.

Racusen said the agency started the reviews for newer disasters that were smaller in scope and has not yet notified anyone affected by Katrina or Hurricanes Rita and Wilma.

Van Fleet is working with Iowa Legal Aid's office in Cedar Rapids to appeal his case. Guglielmana hopes the Pryor bill passes and the matter goes away.

Ray Holmquist of Elmwood Park, Ill., said he and his wife have applied for a hardship waiver to try to get out of paying $5,400, but he doubts it will be granted. The retired businessman said their home in the western Chicago suburb was damaged when the Des Plaines River flooded last year.

"They give you money. They say, 'Hey, take it. Happy days. You deserve it. You're a taxpayer. It's your tax dollars and you live in a flooded zone.' And then all of a sudden the guidelines change," he said. "I hate the injustice of the whole thing."

___

Foley can be reached at http://twitter.com/rjfoley.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110510/ap_on_re_us/us_fema_reclaiming_aid


If you don't run government like a business, then you get this kind of knee jerk reaction. FEMA was/is responsible for the actions of its employees, regardless of their quality of work. Granted, some auditing should be done and recovery of funds from those who scammed the system. But to come back yrs. later and press hard working folks for the funds rightly due them is wrong,, unjust,, and criminal.

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I want all my tax dollars that went to pakistan back !!!

[SLance68]

Well there is one obvious solution to this problem of people not wanting to reimburse FEMA for money they didn't deserve - DO AWAY WITH FEMA!!! If they don't have insurance then they would get nothing and not have to return any money to FEMA. Go ahead and flame away.

[Jolie Rouge]

There are several problems with this : I have had to deal with Katrina, Rita, Guastav, and Ike. I live 180 miles from the coast. Despite having insurance - they refused to pay based on hurrican damage being caused by wind -AND - rain. Seems the fine print on the policy covers damaged casued by wind - OR - rain... but not both. So although the storm ripped a section of my roof OFF the house, which was then further damaged by rain falling from the sky, it was not covered under the hurricane policy. Damages caused by another storm were considered "Acts of God" which are - of course - excluded by the insurance company which is also the ones who deciede what is a "Act of God".

Months of phone calls, letters, forms, blah blah blah .... insurance tells you to collect from FEMA - FEMA tells you to collect from insurance. Meanwhile, no power, holes in the roof, porch in the neighbors yard, tree across the back ... while they debate. Sigh. People had no jobs, no money and no where to turn. The Federal Goverment is supposed to step in on things too big for local administrations to handle... otherwise WHY bother having a Federal Goverment AT ALL ???

[SLance68]

There are several problems with this : I have had to deal with Katrina, Rita, Guastav, and Ike. I live 180 miles from the coast. Despite having insurance - they refused to pay based on hurrican damage being caused by wind -AND - rain. Seems the fine print on the policy covers damaged casued by wind - OR - rain... but not both. So although the storm ripped a section of my roof OFF the house, which was then further damaged by rain falling from the sky, it was not covered under the hurricane policy. Damages caused by another storm were considered "Acts of God" which are - of course - excluded by the insurance company which is also the ones who deciede what is a "Act of God".

Months of phone calls, letters, forms, blah blah blah .... insurance tells you to collect from FEMA - FEMA tells you to collect from insurance. Meanwhile, no power, holes in the roof, porch in the neighbors yard, tree across the back ... while they debate. Sigh. People had no jobs, no money and no where to turn. The Federal Goverment is supposed to step in on things too big for local administrations to handle... otherwise WHY bother having a Federal Goverment AT ALL ???

For National defense.

[Jolie Rouge]

This doesn't qualify ? Defense against natural disasters ?? The tornadoes affected several states: people can't work because the businesses were wiped out along with their homes, they have no money for groceries... but there is no store to buy the groceries AT. Katrina and Rita together cleared an area the size of Great Britian - again, across several states. Billions of dollars going overseas to aid the "needy" ... but none for the taxpayers here at home ??

[Jolie Rouge]

Senate delays FEMA disaster aid repayment measure
Ryan J. Foley, Associated Press – 1 hr 9 mins ago

IOWA CITY, Iowa – U.S. senators signaled Wednesday that Congress won't step in immediately to help disaster victims who have been asked to pay back millions of dollars of aid that the Federal Emergency Management Agency now calls improper.

A Senate committee delayed action on a measure proposed by Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas that would allow FEMA to waive debts in cases involving its own errors. It also would require the agency to waive debts in cases where money was mistakenly given to people who should have been ineligible because their communities do not participate in the National Flood Insurance Program.

The committee's hearing came one day after The Associated Press reported FEMA has sent letters to 5,560 disaster victims asking them to repay $22 million the agency now says they should never have received dating back to 2005. FEMA admits the mistaken payments were largely its own fault because employees gave money to ineligible individuals, approved duplicate payments for costs already covered by insurance and made other errors.

Pryor urged his colleagues to take quick action, noting "the time is ticking" for those who have received debt notices to pay the money back or file appeals.

But the Senate committee on homeland security and governmental affairs did not have the quorum needed to advance the bill because several members were absent Wednesday. Its chairman, Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, noted the measure was controversial among members and needed additional work.

He said he would try to find time to schedule the bill for a vote next week before the Senate adjourns for the Memorial Day recess. A companion measure also would need to pass the House.

Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware called the bill well-intentioned but he said he wanted time to further review the specifics. He noted that he and others have supported legislation to require federal agencies to collect improper payments, and "FEMA is now getting serious" about those efforts.

Pryor said he supported attempts to cut wasteful spending, but that FEMA needed more leeway to forgive debts in cases where individuals received mistaken payments through no fault of their own.

FEMA says current law obligates them to pursue the repayment of improperly-awarded aid even in cases of human error.

Pryor introduced the bill after 73-year-old Dorothy Guglielmana of Mountain View, Ark., sent him a hand-written letter saying she and her husband lost everything in a 2008 flood, and now FEMA is trying to collect more than $27,000 the couple received to help repair their home. FEMA says the money should not have been allowed because their community does not participate in the flood insurance program. The Guglielmanas claim FEMA knew that when they approved the aid, and they should not be penalized three years later.

Gary Guglielmana, 69, said he and his wife have had to leave their house along the swollen White River twice in recent days, but waters have not reached the still-uninsured home. "His bill would help us out with this $27,000, but it wouldn't solve all of our other issues as far as the flood insurance," Guglielmana said.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110511/ap_on_re_us/us_fema_reclaiming_aid


http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20110510/capt.d3ba9d286673458bb4adafd9b2ec8ad6-d3ba9d286673458bb4adafd9b2ec8ad6-0.jpg?x=400&y=320&q=85&sig=dxsTRpPL82qSwgxIZuduWA--

comments

How come the government employees aren't responsible for their mistakes??? This why we are in the big mess of "NO MONEY." There is no leadership, management, or accountability for ones action!

---

This is crap. The government bailed out insolvent companies while their CEO's were living it up with huge bonuses and undeserved vacations, yet someone that actually paid into the system and needed the money to rebuild their life gets screwed. Screw the government.

---

Why do Americans who have gone through a disaster such as this get treated worse by our own government when relief funds are issued, but the Administration blindly and irresponsibly doles out freebies to countries like Pakistan, who harbors terrorists. Our government treats other countries' citizens with more respect than our own. It is down right embarrassing and shameful.

[Jolie Rouge]

FEMA eyes debt take-back as hurricane season looms
Michael Kunzelman And Ryan J. Foley, Associated Press – Wed Jun 1, 5:40 am ET

NEW ORLEANS – Nearly six years have passed since Hurricane Katrina drowned New Orleans in misery, but many residents haven't forgiven the Federal Emergency Management Agency for its sluggish response to the storm. Now another delayed reaction by FEMA — a stop-and-start push to recoup millions of dollars in disaster aid — is reminding storm victims why they often cursed the agency's name.

As a new hurricane season begins Wednesday, FEMA is working to determine how much money it overpaid or mistakenly awarded to victims of the destructive 2005 hurricane season. The agency is reviewing more than $600 million given to roughly 154,000 victims of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma and is poised to demand that some return money.

FEMA already has sent letters to thousands of victims of other disasters, asking them to return more than $22 million. Letters to victims of the 2005 hurricanes could go out in a matter of months, but it's too soon to tell how many people will be told to repay or how much money is at stake.

The effort isn't sitting well with victims who spent the money years ago and who could need help again if another powerful storm hits. It's of little consolation that FEMA says procedural changes since 2005 mean future disaster victims aren't likely to have to deal with large recalls of cash.

Government forecasters are expecting an above average Atlantic storm season, with three to six major hurricanes that have winds of 111 mph or higher. While no hurricane that strong has made landfall since 2005, forecasters have warned that residents shouldn't count on that streak to continue. "When you get these high levels of activity the likelihood of a hurricane striking the U.S. goes up quite a bit," said Gerry Bell, lead seasonal hurricane forecaster at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center in Washington.

Paul Wegener, whose New Orleans home flooded up to the gutters after Katrina, felt short-changed when FEMA gave him a $30,000 grant for a house that wound up costing more than $566,000 to rebuild. He applied for more through the state's Road Home program but was told he didn't qualify. The thought of having to return some of his federal aid only compounds his frustration. "They'll have to pry it from my dead hands if they try," the 75-year-old said.

Under political pressure to help residents after Katrina, FEMA relaxed its safeguards and paid millions so victims could pay for food, clothing, shelter and medicine and also get started on home repairs. But that allowed thousands of improper and fraudulent payments. FEMA employees awarded money without interviewing applicants or inspecting property and made errors that ranged from recording incorrect banking information to failing to check whether insurance had already covered damage, according to congressional testimony.

The 154,000 cases under review account for less than 10 percent of the $7 billion that FEMA has given to victims of the 2005 hurricanes through its individual assistance program. The recoupment effort doesn't apply to other big-dollar disaster aid programs, like Road Home, which was financed by a congressional block grant.

While hundreds have been convicted of hurricane-related fraud, FEMA spokeswoman Rachel Racusen said many of the cases under review involve mistakes by agency employees or the recipients themselves. Some payments will be deemed proper, some could be referred for fraud investigations and the rest will get letters telling them to pay back improper payments caused by human error, according to Racusen.

Luisa Mejia, 28, was living in an apartment in Metairie, a New Orleans suburb, when Katrina drove her family out of town. "We left with nothing but important papers and maybe two sets of clothes," she recalls. "We were in Atlanta with no money, living in a home with 40 people."

All they got from FEMA was a check for $1,200, which they used to buy clothes and food. Six years later, Mejia can't understand why FEMA would ask residents to pay for its employees' mistakes. "I didn't get the type of money that would make me rich from Katrina," she said. "For people who were honest like me, it's crazy."

FEMA's attempts to collect Katrina and Rita overpayments already have sputtered once. Residents who lost homes filed a class-action lawsuit in 2007 challenging the denial of their housing aid and the recoupment process. The lawsuit argued that FEMA's debt collection efforts were full of errors, based on vague standards and without hearings that would ensure fair treatment.

A judge ordered the agency to suspend the debt collection in 2007, while the lawsuit was pending. FEMA responded by withdrawing all debt notices sent to Katrina and Rita victims and drawing up new guidelines that the agency says will give victims clearer explanations and more opportunities to appeal.

With those guidelines finally approved this year, FEMA started reviewing its backlog of potentially improper payments. "Under our current leadership, strong protections have been put in place to greatly reduce the error rate of improper disaster payments," Racusen said in a statement. The agency said it has slashed its error rate involving disaster payments from 14.5 percent after Katrina to about 3 percent in 2009.

Critics say the initiative could hurt thousands still struggling to recover, and they doubt whether much of the money would be collected. They also predicted court challenges. "People used this money to survive," said Davida Finger, a law professor at Loyola University in New Orleans who represented plaintiffs in the class-action case. "We don't want people to have to give money back that they simply needed for rent and food."

FEMA says it is bound by law to try to collect improper payments, but lawmakers have sponsored legislation that would authorize the agency to waive debts if they resulted from an error by FEMA. A Senate committee approved the bill Thursday. No vote by the full Senate has been scheduled. "Most of the families facing recoupment are honest disaster survivors, facing incredible challenges, who used funds for legitimate and urgent disaster-related needs, and who never intended to accept money to which they were not entitled," said Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat who co-sponsored the bill.

The FEMA letters will give individuals at least 30 days to pay back money and explain their ability to appeal, to apply for a hardship waiver or to seek a compromise.

Diane Ridgley, 56, a plaintiff in the 2007 lawsuit, recalled getting a letter from FEMA demanding repayment of nearly $17,000, money she used to replace personal belongings and pay for rent after Katrina destroyed her New Orleans duplex. FEMA told her she should have been ineligible because she listed a family friend with whom she evacuated — but did not live — as a member of her household on her application.

Ridgley claimed FEMA employees told her to list him that way, but she received a series of confusing letters and denials when she appealed. She said she believes she has finally proven she was eligible, but has kept all of her paperwork in case FEMA comes calling again. "I don't want nobody coming back on me telling me I gotta pay money," said Ridgley, who recently was laid off her job as a hospital housekeeper. "I know people were doing all kinds of wrong things at the moment. It was desperate times. But that doesn't give them the right to come back six years later."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110601/ap_on_re_us/us_fema_reclaiming_aid

comments

Ironically, FEMA is a disaster in of itself.

Our government would be better off questioning the foreign aid that 130+ countries get from the American taxpayers.

---

We can't give hard working Amercans a hand to get their life back in order, but we can give Pakistan and other countries billions????? Doesn't make much sense to me.

--

Looks like the government is getting REALLY desperate for money. I know how they can save a few million a year..... stop sending aid to Pakistan.

This is crap. The government bailed out insolvent companies while their CEO's were living it up with huge bonuses and undeserved vacations, yet someone that actually paid into the system and needed the money to rebuild their life gets screwed. Screw the government.

what a joke, both fema and our government

---

How come the government employees aren't responsible for their mistakes??? This why we are in the big mess of "NO MONEY." There is no leadership, management, or accountability for ones action!

Why doesnt the government use the same approach with the banks and auto companies?

[Jolie Rouge]

FEMA eyes debt take-back as hurricane season looms
Michael Kunzelman And Ryan J. Foley, Associated Press – Wed Jun 1, 5:40 am ET

NEW ORLEANS – Nearly six years have passed since Hurricane Katrina drowned New Orleans in misery, but many residents haven't forgiven the Federal Emergency Management Agency for its sluggish response to the storm. Now another delayed reaction by FEMA — a stop-and-start push to recoup millions of dollars in disaster aid — is reminding storm victims why they often cursed the agency's name.

As a new hurricane season begins Wednesday, FEMA is working to determine how much money it overpaid or mistakenly awarded to victims of the destructive 2005 hurricane season. The agency is reviewing more than $600 million given to roughly 154,000 victims of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma and is poised to demand that some return money.

FEMA already has sent letters to thousands of victims of other disasters, asking them to return more than $22 million. Letters to victims of the 2005 hurricanes could go out in a matter of months, but it's too soon to tell how many people will be told to repay or how much money is at stake.

The effort isn't sitting well with victims who spent the money years ago and who could need help again if another powerful storm hits. It's of little consolation that FEMA says procedural changes since 2005 mean future disaster victims aren't likely to have to deal with large recalls of cash.

Government forecasters are expecting an above average Atlantic storm season, with three to six major hurricanes that have winds of 111 mph or higher. While no hurricane that strong has made landfall since 2005, forecasters have warned that residents shouldn't count on that streak to continue. "When you get these high levels of activity the likelihood of a hurricane striking the U.S. goes up quite a bit," said Gerry Bell, lead seasonal hurricane forecaster at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center in Washington.

Paul Wegener, whose New Orleans home flooded up to the gutters after Katrina, felt short-changed when FEMA gave him a $30,000 grant for a house that wound up costing more than $566,000 to rebuild. He applied for more through the state's Road Home program but was told he didn't qualify. The thought of having to return some of his federal aid only compounds his frustration. "They'll have to pry it from my dead hands if they try," the 75-year-old said.

Under political pressure to help residents after Katrina, FEMA relaxed its safeguards and paid millions so victims could pay for food, clothing, shelter and medicine and also get started on home repairs. But that allowed thousands of improper and fraudulent payments. FEMA employees awarded money without interviewing applicants or inspecting property and made errors that ranged from recording incorrect banking information to failing to check whether insurance had already covered damage, according to congressional testimony.

The 154,000 cases under review account for less than 10 percent of the $7 billion that FEMA has given to victims of the 2005 hurricanes through its individual assistance program. The recoupment effort doesn't apply to other big-dollar disaster aid programs, like Road Home, which was financed by a congressional block grant.

While hundreds have been convicted of hurricane-related fraud, FEMA spokeswoman Rachel Racusen said many of the cases under review involve mistakes by agency employees or the recipients themselves. Some payments will be deemed proper, some could be referred for fraud investigations and the rest will get letters telling them to pay back improper payments caused by human error, according to Racusen.

Luisa Mejia, 28, was living in an apartment in Metairie, a New Orleans suburb, when Katrina drove her family out of town. "We left with nothing but important papers and maybe two sets of clothes," she recalls. "We were in Atlanta with no money, living in a home with 40 people."

All they got from FEMA was a check for $1,200, which they used to buy clothes and food. Six years later, Mejia can't understand why FEMA would ask residents to pay for its employees' mistakes. "I didn't get the type of money that would make me rich from Katrina," she said. "For people who were honest like me, it's crazy."

FEMA's attempts to collect Katrina and Rita overpayments already have sputtered once. Residents who lost homes filed a class-action lawsuit in 2007 challenging the denial of their housing aid and the recoupment process. The lawsuit argued that FEMA's debt collection efforts were full of errors, based on vague standards and without hearings that would ensure fair treatment.

A judge ordered the agency to suspend the debt collection in 2007, while the lawsuit was pending. FEMA responded by withdrawing all debt notices sent to Katrina and Rita victims and drawing up new guidelines that the agency says will give victims clearer explanations and more opportunities to appeal.

With those guidelines finally approved this year, FEMA started reviewing its backlog of potentially improper payments. "Under our current leadership, strong protections have been put in place to greatly reduce the error rate of improper disaster payments," Racusen said in a statement. The agency said it has slashed its error rate involving disaster payments from 14.5 percent after Katrina to about 3 percent in 2009.

Critics say the initiative could hurt thousands still struggling to recover, and they doubt whether much of the money would be collected. They also predicted court challenges. "People used this money to survive," said Davida Finger, a law professor at Loyola University in New Orleans who represented plaintiffs in the class-action case. "We don't want people to have to give money back that they simply needed for rent and food."

FEMA says it is bound by law to try to collect improper payments, but lawmakers have sponsored legislation that would authorize the agency to waive debts if they resulted from an error by FEMA. A Senate committee approved the bill Thursday. No vote by the full Senate has been scheduled. "Most of the families facing recoupment are honest disaster survivors, facing incredible challenges, who used funds for legitimate and urgent disaster-related needs, and who never intended to accept money to which they were not entitled," said Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat who co-sponsored the bill.

The FEMA letters will give individuals at least 30 days to pay back money and explain their ability to appeal, to apply for a hardship waiver or to seek a compromise.

Diane Ridgley, 56, a plaintiff in the 2007 lawsuit, recalled getting a letter from FEMA demanding repayment of nearly $17,000, money she used to replace personal belongings and pay for rent after Katrina destroyed her New Orleans duplex. FEMA told her she should have been ineligible because she listed a family friend with whom she evacuated — but did not live — as a member of her household on her application.

Ridgley claimed FEMA employees told her to list him that way, but she received a series of confusing letters and denials when she appealed. She said she believes she has finally proven she was eligible, but has kept all of her paperwork in case FEMA comes calling again. "I don't want nobody coming back on me telling me I gotta pay money," said Ridgley, who recently was laid off her job as a hospital housekeeper. "I know people were doing all kinds of wrong things at the moment. It was desperate times. But that doesn't give them the right to come back six years later."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110601/ap_on_re_us/us_fema_reclaiming_aid

comments

Ironically, FEMA is a disaster in of itself.

Our government would be better off questioning the foreign aid that 130+ countries get from the American taxpayers.

---

We can't give hard working Amercans a hand to get their life back in order, but we can give Pakistan and other countries billions????? Doesn't make much sense to me.

--

Looks like the government is getting REALLY desperate for money. I know how they can save a few million a year..... stop sending aid to Pakistan.

This is crap. The government bailed out insolvent companies while their CEO's were living it up with huge bonuses and undeserved vacations, yet someone that actually paid into the system and needed the money to rebuild their life gets screwed. Screw the government.

what a joke, both fema and our government

---

How come the government employees aren't responsible for their mistakes??? This why we are in the big mess of "NO MONEY." There is no leadership, management, or accountability for ones action!

Why doesnt the government use the same approach with the banks and auto companies?