The famously incompetent government agency created by Jimmy Carter to provide the nation with disaster relief is involved in yet another scandal for doling out billions of dollars in COVID-19 aid that ended up being spent on fraudulent and wasteful causes that clearly did not qualify for the funding. It marks the latest of many transgressions at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which received nearly $100 billion in supplemental appropriations plus additional disaster relief funding to support its doomed pandemic response and recovery effort. Instead, the agency, which operates under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), executed the cash giveaway without bothering to implement effective controls, resulting in “large, organized fraud schemes,” according to a recently published audit conducted by the DHS Inspector General.
More than $13.5 billion in pandemic recovery awards went to ineligible recipients and unallowable or unsupported costs, investigators found. The disaster relief money flowed to the illicit causes because FEMA failed to implement controls to ensure the funding went to eligible recipients, follow its own policies aimed at ensuring pandemic funding was used for allowable costs and maintain consistent data collection and management processes to inform decisions and allocate resources. For instance, FEMA’s Lost Wages Assistance (LWA) and Funeral Assistance programs awarded ineligible recipients around $3.7 billion in potentially fraudulent or duplicate payments because it relied on state workforce agencies for the management of the programs despite repeated warnings from the Department of Labor (DOL) and the DHS IG that self-certifications are high risk and may lead to improper payments. Adding insult to injury, FEMA did not require state workforce agencies to report LWA fraud, hindering the efforts of its watchdog to recover stolen funds and combat future fraud.
FEMA’s faulty process for reviewing funeral assistance expenses allowed the disbursement of duplicate payments to multiple parties for the same decedent, investigators found. The disaster relief agency also failed to follow its policies to ensure pandemic funding was used for allowable costs under federal law. “We identified approximately $8.2 billion in unallowable or unsupported costs and an additional $1.5 billion in over-obligated funding that could have been put to better use during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the DHS IG report states. FEMA was also slow to take action to recoup improper payments once they were identified and the beleaguered agency paid applicants beyond the maximum reimbursement amount. In a multitude of instances FEMA applied inconsistent document review guidance, resulting in payments for unallowable costs related to the funeral assistance program. This is why the agency watchdog summarized its latest probe in a sentence that reads: “Key finding: Ineffective Controls Led to COVID-19 Funding Being Susceptible to Fraud, Waste, and Abuse.”
It marks the latest of several embarrassing lapses at FEMA in recent years alone. Earlier this year Judicial Watch exposed an outrageous program in which New York City spent tens of millions of dollars in FEMA funds over just a few months to house and feed illegal immigrants. Judicial Watch had to sue FEMA for the records because the agency failed to respond to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for payment and funding allocation files, internal communications and directives, as well as policy and procedural guidelines involving the migrant project. The records show New York City received $188 million under the Biden administration from a federal shelter program administered by FEMA and the money was spent on around-the-clock security staffing at a converted Manhattan office building used as a migrant shelter, and daily meal delivery to migrants housed in 33 hotels—including major chains such as Ramada, Best Western, Wyndham and Courtyard/Fairfield—across New York City.
FEMA was rocked by two other scandals last fall that were exposed in separate investigations. In the first numerous employees were fired for consuming pornographic content on government issued devices during work hours. The individuals had access to critical information and intelligence and were entrusted to safeguard Americans from emergencies—and instead they were consuming pornography, a statement issued by then DHS Secretary Kristi Noem read. In the second scandal a DHS probe revealed that under the Biden administration FEMA singled out conservative disaster victims and withheld aid to survivors who displayed signs and flags the agency’s liberal workforce disagreed with. The agency charged with helping people before, during and after disasters systemically refused to visit the houses of politically conservative victims, the DHS inquiry found. These examples are just a few on a lengthy list chronicling transgressions at FEMA, which merged into DHS after the 2001 terrorist attacks and has been failing the American people since Hurricane Katrina hit the Louisiana gulf coast two decades ago, killing more than 1,800 Americans and resulting in billions of dollars in property damage.
