November 24, 2024
Editorial

EYE ON THE STORM DOLLARS

With more than $60 billion already approved and many more billions on the way to help reconstruct New Orleans and other parts of the Gulf Coast, the nation will undertake, as the president said Thursday, “an unprecedented response to an unprecedented crisis.” Making sure that money is well spent while it is quickly spent will be difficult, demanding that Congress act soon to build in financial safeguards.

President Bush anticipated that demand Thursday when he promised massive federal programs to work with state and local officials in the afflicted areas to build roads, bridges, schools and water systems. “And taxpayers expect this work to be done honestly and wisely – so we’ll have a team of inspectors general reviewing all expenditures,” he said.

That last point is crucial. Already, fiscal conservatives in Congress have begun to doubt whether Congress should approve a lot more money to help rebuild. And even some member of Congress who do want to see the money spent worry about the bill that will be left to the future as the deficit grows higher. These concerns, though difficult to consider when seeing the suffering of evacuees from New Orleans, should be considered, which is why keeping a close eye on the money matters.

The president was vague about what he meant by a “team of inspectors general,” and several proposals in Congress have raised the same issue. The one that will likely survive in the Senate makes sense. Sens. Susan Collins and Joseph Lieberman, the chairman and ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee – the committee of jurisdiction on the issue – have proposed expanding the duties of the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction to include the aftermath of Katrina.

The senators would fund additional personnel for the inspector general while giving the office authority to oversee and audit no-bid contracts, coordinate various federal and state agencies and investigate potential fraud and abuse. One advantage of using the Iraq office for this rather than creating a new office is that it is already operating and could move quickly to hire auditors and investigators.

President Bush made very large promises about the future of the devastated area. It remains to be seen whether they can be fulfilled, but they will certainly not occur if the money pouring into the region disappears into the murky waters of waste and fraud. Congress should swiftly approve an independent, well-staffed office of inspector general for Katrina’s aftermath.


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