Obama helps disaster victims

[LaPlaca]

FEMA asks for return of $22M in disaster aid

by Ryan J. Foley Associated Press Copyright

Published: May 11, 2011

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.

[willowdared]

Perhaps you were unaware of this, but there are actually people who file false claims during disasters, or even lie about their losses to defraud the government and relief agencies.

Shocking, I know.

[Carbonfiberfoot]

I'm not understanding the title: '(thumbs down) Obama helps disaster victims'


Are you insinuating that this is somehow Obama's fault?

[Iowa #1603]

Perhaps you were unaware of this, but there are actually people who file false claims during disasters, or even lie about their losses to defraud the government and relief agencies.

Shocking, I know.

After the 2008 floods there were 2 people convicted of fraud in Iowa.

This is more of a thing where the people were told one thing by one official and another thing later. Some involves getting state aide and also receiving federal aide for the same incident/items.

There is more to the story than what is in that particular article.

[LaPlaca]

not as nearly shocking as your inability to actually digest what was written in the cited article. I didnt see fraud or lies mentioned anywhere, guess I missed it....

I DO see a guy that filed a claim, a claim that FEMA took 7 months to review, and got a check for 20grand to help rebuild his life. Now, 3 years later and 1 trillion more in debt, the guvmint wants the money back.

[LaPlaca]

Are you insinuating that this is somehow Obama's fault?

Well gee, it IS his administration isnt it?

I guess when things go well, like someone else planning, executing and killing Osama while Obama watched it go down on the bigscreen, youre all about issuing praise. When things go bad, its not his fault? Cant have it both ways..

[Iowa #1603]

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/app...=2011105080347


Cedar Rapids, Ia. - FEMA wants money back from some individuals who were awarded benefits in Iowa's natural disasters in 2008 and 2010.

Letters from the Federal Emergency Management Agency have gone to 88 Iowa applicants who received funds in the floods and tornadoes of 2008 and to 92 Iowa applicants who received benefits for flooding in 2010 as part of the agency's nationwide disaster "recoupment" effort.

Among the letters going to Iowans, the agency is seeking $229,057 from 40 applicants who improperly received disaster funds after flooding in Cedar Rapids and Palo in Linn County. It also is seeking $61,433 from seven applicants who improperly received disaster funds in Iowa City or Coralville, according to FEMA's regional office in Kansas City, Mo.

In total, the regional office is seeking $802,174 from 180 Iowans for payments made after natural disasters in 2008 and 2010.

Bob Josephson, FEMA spokesman in Kansas City, emphasized that the letters are going out for improper payments, not fraud.

FEMA notes that the agency suspended its payment recoupment program in 2007 after a lawsuit and subsequent court order questioned the agency's program after Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita.

In the meantime, the agency says it put protections in place to significantly reduce the percentage of fraud and improper payments that it then needed to recoup.

The percentage of improperly disbursed payments fell to 3 percent for disasters in the fiscal year 2009, down from 14.5 percent after Hurricane Katrina, the agency reports.

The letters that recipients of FEMA disaster payments are receiving are called "notice of debt" letters. Of the 185 that have gone out from FEMA's regional office in Kansas City, 180 went to Iowans and five to those in the other three states that the agency serves: Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska.

The recoupment effort is part of FEMA's "commitment to being responsible stewards of tax dollars," the agency states.

[LaPlaca]

The recoupment effort is part of FEMA's "commitment to being responsible stewards of tax dollars," the agency states.

made me ROFL...

[FromOhio]

So this is Obama's fault how?

[willowdared]

After the 2008 floods there were 2 people convicted of fraud in Iowa.

This is more of a thing where the people were told one thing by one official and another thing later. Some involves getting state aide and also receiving federal aide for the same incident/items.

There is more to the story than what is in that particular article.

That's for the more detailed information.

[Carbonfiberfoot]

Well gee, it IS his administration isnt it?

I guess when things go well, like someone else planning, executing and killing Osama while Obama watched it go down on the bigscreen, youre all about issuing praise. When things go bad, its not his fault? Cant have it both ways..

Who am I to possibly question such sound reasoning? I suppose you are right. Obama is obviously the one who directly made this decision.

[Iowa #1603]

Actually most of the mistakes would have been made by the Bush administration FEMA leaders-------------fall of 2008 (for the summer 2008 disasters).


And of course the 2010 mistakes by the Obama administration FEMA leaders


Shared responsibility for the mistakes-----the current leaders are just correcting the previous mistakes.

[irish21]

Obama has enough downfalls for everyone to use without blaming him for crap that he's not involved with.

[MCSD]

[Rudy8116]

Im still wating on Borack to offer to help Texas, who was desvestated by massive wildfires, which killed two firefighters, and tornaodes, before they madetheir way into the Deep South. I don't think he has yet.