Project Katrina

A new GAO report finds that the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) disaster assistance program made up to $1.4 billion in improper payments after Hurricane Katrina.

House Homeland Security Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, said in an interview Tuesday that he is drafting legislation that would provide better fraud prevention and verification controls in FEMA’s individual and household disaster assistance program.

"Based on our statistical sample, we are 95 percent confident that the range of improper and potentially fraudulent payments is from $600 million to $1.4 billion," Government Accountability Office investigators said in a new report. It will be released Wednesday at a hearing McCaul called to examine waste and fraud in the hurricane recovery effort.

Government Accountability Office says FEMA debit cards were used for:

• An all-inclusive, one-week Caribbean vacation in the Punta Cana resort in the Dominican Republic.
• Five season tickets to New Orleans Saints professional football games.
• Adult erotica products in Houston and "Girls Gone Wild" videos in Santa Monica, Calif.
• Dom Perignon champagne and other alcoholic beverages in a San Antonio Hooters.

Overall the report found:

• Congressional investigators found numerous examples of waste and abuse and say nearly 16 percent of monies paid out was unwarranted.
• GAO is confident that improper and potentially fraudulent payments would total up to $1.4 billion.
• Identified more than 1,500 cases of potential fraud after Katrina and Rita.

Peoples heads need to roll and people need to go to jail.