Iraq reconstruction overseer may get Katrina responsibilities

Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., chairwoman and ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, unveiled legislation Thursday to expand the oversight responsibilities of the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction to the Gulf Coast region.

Under their proposal, the IG would oversee all federal agency spending related to Hurricane Katrina.

"We simply cannot wait for existing structures to organize and ramp up or create a whole new bureaucracy that will take many months to get up and running. We need controls that are visible and on the ground as soon as possible," said Collins. Congress already has approved more than $60 billion for recovery efforts, which will go to contractors as well as state and local organizations.

Collins said the inspector general himself, Stuart W. Bowen Jr., proposed the idea, and that under her legislation Congress would give his office $80 million over the next two years to implement its new oversight job.

According to Collins, the legislation would allow the special inspector general to open a hotline for people in the Gulf area to report fraud, send auditors to observe relief efforts and promote a "fraud-fighting message."

Other lawmakers have made similar proposals in recent days. Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., introduced a bill that would require a Senate-confirmed chief financial officer to oversee relief efforts in the Gulf Coast. In a statement, the senators said a chief financial officer would better prevent fraud than an inspector general because the CFO would review spending as it was happening instead of afterward.

Not everyone believes this kind of additional oversight is necessary. The Homeland Security Department has an inspector general's office that is charged with FEMA oversight. Rep. Todd Platts, R-Pa., said a chief financial officer to oversee relief funds was unnecessary because the Homeland Security Department already is required to have a CFO.

"At this point, we don't need to reinvent the wheel," Platts said.

Platts and Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., also introduced a bill Thursday to create a council of inspectors general to "coordinate and streamline accountability measures for hurricane relief efforts."

"Under the special IG proposal, we would face the unworkable problem of having several IGs with Senate confirmation reporting to a political appointee who reports to one Cabinet secretary," Platts said.