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Congressmen push to free up FEMA funding backlog (Rep. Steve Scalise)

by La. GOP Rep. Steve Scalise - 06/10/09 5:15 PM ET

It has been four years since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf Coast, yet a number of FEMA Public Assistance projects remain unresolved.

Last week I participated in a hearing in New Orleans with Congressmen Joseph Cao (R-LA) and John Mica (R-FL), the Ranking Member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. We held this hearing with FEMA to develop solutions for the recovery projects.

This week we requested that the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security conduct a review of the number, scope and value of pending projects related to the 2005 hurricanes.

There is no excuse that FEMA has not been able to get on the same page with our state and local leaders to reach an agreement on the number of unresolved project worksheets. By getting the Inspector General involved, we will finally get a clear picture of how many projects are still stuck in the red tape of FEMA’s bureaucracy. We need to break through the red tape and logjams in the system, and find solutions to reform FEMA and prevent these delays from happening again in the future.

We asked that the Inspector General report back to us within 30 days.