Katrina Victims Fight FEMA Demands for Repayment

They must be kidding, right? 

Um, no. 

Six years after the man-made disaster FEMA is claiming they made mistakes and want their money back.  You can't make this stuff up.  From NOLA.com:

When the Federal Emergency Management Agency mailed out 83,000 debt notices this year to victims of Hurricane Katrina and other 2005 storms, one of the letters showed up in David Bellinger's mailbox. Bellinger, who is blind, needed a friend to read it and break the news that FEMA wants him to pay back more than $3,200 in federal aid he received after Katrina.
Racusen said the agency has implemented "strong protections" to avoid making improper payments, reducing its error rate from about 14 percent after Katrina to less than 1 percent for more recent disasters.
"We have also worked to significantly improve the recoupment process so that it is more understandable and provides due process for both disaster survivors and taxpayers," she said in a statement.
FEMA's collection efforts aren't limited to the 2005 storms. The agency has mailed out more than 6,000 debt letters to survivors of other recent disasters, including floods.
Approximately 2,500 recipients, including 930 victims of the 2005 hurricanes, have appealed their debt notices. FEMA says about 30 percent of those appeals successfully erased at least some of the debt. Recipients also can ask for a waiver due to economic hardship.
"It is important for any individual who has received a recoupment notice to know that these letters are the start of a conversation with FEMA, not the end," Racusen said.

"A conversation with FEMA" the agency that allowed New Orleans to drown and didn't send aid for 5 to 7 days, thanks to "heck of a job, Brownie"?  Right!

Read the rest HERE.  Take a blood pressure med first, though.

More later.
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