Lawmakers demand details on Katrina spending

With nerves taut over the $62 billion Congress has approved for Gulf Coast hurricane recovery, the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Thursday demanded an accounting from administration officials of approximately $20 billion already dished out by the Homeland Security Department.

Panel members also expressed concern about the ability of the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cope with the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, as well as the department's awarding of large no-bid contracts to companies working on cleanup and rebuilding of public infrastructure in affected states.

Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky., said the purpose of the hearing was to establish that appropriators will keep a sharp eye on how the funding is spent for recovery.

"History tells us we can expect fraud and mistakes, typically to the tune of about 3 percent of the funds provided for disasters. ... But 3 percent of $60 billion will choke us. It's unacceptable," he said.

Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff did not attend the hearing, but his chief deputy, Michael Jackson, did, along with acting FEMA Director R. David Paulison, DHS Inspector General Richard Skinner and Chief Financial Officer Andrew B. Maner.

Jackson and Skinner were peppered with questions about the paucity of firm figures on how the appropriated money was being spent.

Appropriations ranking member David Obey, D-Wis., and Rep. Ernest Istook, R-Okla., expressed irritation at sketchy numbers provided to the panel. Those numbers, they said, explained little about how the money was spent and who was getting it.

Obey waved a single spread-sheet of line-item numbers provided by the administration, and mused aloud that Congress should vote to rescind "half the money we've appropriated so that we could get a better grasp of how DHS and FEMA plan to spend it."

Istook cited reports that, of the 116,000 mobile homes ordered by FEMA to house evacuees, only 6,000 or so had been delivered and wondered why "precise figures" on the availability of such units were not ready.

Jackson conceded that he, too, was "having trouble getting such data myself," but promised the panel he would keep them informed.

Questioned by Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Ill., about allocations, Jackson said about $4.5 billion has been spent for housing assistance, $2.5 billion for manufactured homes, $2 billion for general property losses, $1.2 billion for aid to states, and $7.7 billion for the federal agencies engaged in the cleanup. There was no breakdown, however, of exactly where the money went and who benefited.

Greta Wodele contributed to this report.