Government Waste

On July 19, I spoke on the House Floor and said we hear and read about so many examples of waste by the federal bureaucracy that almost nothing shocks or surprises us anymore. However, the day before news came out about a really ridiculous waste by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the same people who bought thousands of unneeded trailers. Now we find out that FEMA bought 112,000 tons of ice and paid millions to buy it and another $12.5 million to store it. According to news reports, 42,000 tons has been unused, and FEMA is going to pay $3,400,000 to have this ice melted. I said in my floor speech that a first grader could melt ice. The Department of Homeland Security, of which FEMA is part, has 171,000 employees. Surely they have more than enough workers who could melt this ice without paying some company $3.4 million to do it. FEMA should be placed in the Hall of Fame of Government Waste if one is ever created.