Homeland Security to request additional funds for Katrina oversight

More money will be needed to beef up oversight as agencies spend the billions of dollars Congress has dedicated to hurricane relief, a Homeland Security Department official told lawmakers Wednesday.

"It is clear that additional resources will be needed, and I will be preparing appropriate requests for supplemental appropriations," said Richard Skinner, the DHS inspector general, in testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. The more than $60 billion in hurricane aid that Congress has approved in two supplemental funding bills includes $15 million for oversight.

But Skinner said that will not be enough to monitor the up to $200 billion that could be spent on relief. The Homeland Security Department's IG office has set up an office dedicated solely to Katrina oversight and has assigned 60 auditors, investigators and inspectors to watch how relief money is spent, he testified.

Homeland Security will be hiring 30 more investigators over the next three months, Skinner said. With these hires and staff members brought on for limited-term appointments, the number of IG office employees assigned Katrina-related work will double in the next "several months," he testified.

DHS has oversight staff positioned at Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters and at the Joint Field Offices in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, Skinner told committee members. The investigators and auditors will be focusing on "prevention, including reviewing internal controls; monitoring and advising department officials on contracts, grants and purchase transactions before they are approved; and meeting with applicants, contractors and grantees to advise them of the requirements and assess their capability to account for the funds," Skinner testified.

The DHS IG staff also will coordinate oversight efforts with state and local audit organizations in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, and with other federal agencies involved in hurricane relief, Skinner said. Though the bulk of relief funds will be channeled through FEMA, it will be disbursed to other agencies involved in the cleanup through "mission assignments," he noted.

Some agencies outside DHS also will receive direct appropriations for hurricane relief, Skinner testified. Homeland Security's IG office is coordinating with the 12 other agency inspectors general that have substantial Katrina oversight duties through regular meetings of the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency Homeland Security Round Table, he said.

The twelve other agency IG offices will report biweekly to DHS investigators, who will in turn provide members of Congress and Bush administration officials with reports, Skinner said. With all resources counted, there are more than 300 auditors, investigators and inspectors devoted to Katrina oversight, he added.

But Skinner emphasized that he, and other inspectors general with oversight responsibilities, will need more resources. "I do not believe that additional authorities are needed to allow appropriate coordination of these efforts," he testified.

Skinner's statements come as lawmakers are debating the most effective means of monitoring spending on the relief effort.

Proposals under consideration include a Senate bill (S. 1738) introduced by Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., last week that would add oversight of Gulf Coast reconstruction to the duties of the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee approved that legislation on Sept. 22, sending it along to the full Senate.

On the House side, Reps. Tom Davis, R-Va., chairman of the Government Reform Committee, and Rep. Todd Platts, R-Pa., are offering a bill (H.R. 3810) that would create a Special Inspectors General Council for Hurricane Katrina chaired by the DHS IG. Other agencies with significant hurricane relief oversight responsibilities would participate.

The Davis-Platts bill would essentially "codify in statute the coordination effort that's under way," said Michael Hettinger, staff director for the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Management, Finance and Accountability, which Platts chairs. But the bill would authorize an additional $35 million in oversight resources and would ensure that "the parties that need to be at the table are at the table," Hettinger said.

Since oversight efforts already are being divided among 13 agencies, it makes sense to start by ensuring that the "existing structure" has adequate support, Hettinger said. The Davis-Platts bill has been referred to two committees, including the Government Reform Committee, but has not yet been marked up. There are several competing proposals in the House.