The Austin American Statesman - Congress passes McCaul bill
Congress passes McCaul bill
Measure reforms payment, tracking of FEMA benefits
By Tara Copp, as published in the Austin American Statesman
WASHINGTON Rep. Michael McCaul, of Austin, got his first major new law passed by Congress on Friday, the last day of the current session before members leave to campaign for November's elections.
The bill alters how the Federal Emergency Management Agency pays disaster victims and tracks their benefits. This spring, McCaul led hearings that exposed $1.4 billion in FEMA payments lost to fraud. In some cases, money meant to aid victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita was approved to repair houses that did not exist, "Girls Gone Wild" videos and multiple payments to a man who submitted several Social Security numbers.
Elected to Congress in 2004, McCaul sponsored or co-authored 11 bills in his first term, including several that address border security and science needs. His border security bill faltered when the House and Senate split on immigration reform; other science-related bills remain at the House committee level.
So getting a bill through the House, Senate and to the president is gratifying, McCaul said.
Hundreds of bills and resolutions are filed by members of Congress each year. But getting hearings and votes on the bills, unless they're not controversial, like naming post offices, or have the majority party's blessing to move forward, is difficult, said congressional analyst John Fortier.
"It's not a fly-by-night thing," said Fortier of the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute.
Congress is leaving this session with only two of 12 annual spending bills completed; members will return after the Nov. 7 elections to finish their work.
McCaul's FEMA legislation will require that each applicant be given a registration number so payments can be tracked in a database and that the identities and addresses of recipients be verified. However, he acknowledged that it would be challenging to confirm IDs and addresses in a disaster situation.
"You can't completely prevent abuse, but building the database will go a long way to minimizing abuse to the American taxpayer," McCaul said.
The bill now goes to President Bush for his signature.
http://www.house.gov/list/press/tx10_mccaul/morenews/9_30_06_MTM_bill_AAS.html