{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.paul.senate.gov/news-sen-rand-paul-calls-out-fema-spending-50-million-duplicative-disaster-payments-latest-waste/", "Sen. Rand Paul Calls out FEMA For Spending $50 Million on Duplicative Disaster Payments In Latest The Waste Report", "2015-08-17", "2015", "2015-08", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Rand Paul", "P000603", "www.paul.senate.gov", "paul", "https://www.paul.senate.gov/news/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator Rand Paul today released the latest edition to \u2018The Waste Report,\u2019 which is an ongoing project highlighting egregious examples of waste within the U.S. government. The latest edition reveals $50 million wasted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on duplicative disaster payments to remediate damage when the cost had already been covered and paid by outside insurance companies.\n\n\u2018The Waste Report\u2019 can be found HERE or below.\n\nPaying for something twice is one of those things that give you a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach. When it comes to disaster recovery, Uncle Sam often unnecessarily pays twice, costing taxpayers over $50 million in the process.\n\nAccording to more than 30 U.S. Department of Homeland Security Inspector General reports, from just the last five years, taxpayers have spent at least $35.5 million remediating disaster damage also paid for by outside insurance.\n\nFor example, following Hurricane Sandy, Seaside Heights, N.J., billed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) over $45,000 for vehicle repairs that were also covered by the city\u2019s insurance policy.[1] Palm Beach County or municipalities therein, claimed $622,596[2] for a variety of projects also paid for by insurance, including $20,581 for repairs to a golf course.[3]\n\nBut that\u2019s not all, the Subcommittee on Federal Spending Oversight (FSO) also found another $17.7 million in double payments for disaster recovery reported by the Inspector General in just in the last five years.\n\nOne example included the Port of Tillamook Bay, Ore., billing FEMA twice for the same debris-removal totaling a whopping $1.4 million overcharge.\n\nWhat makes this case interesting and shocking is the double billing was caused by Tillamook\u2019s alternative use project. What is an alternative use project? Well, storms damaged a little-used rail line that Tillamook decided was not needed anyway. So, FEMA gave them $44.6 million (90% of the cost to repair the actual storm damage) to be used for an alternative environmental project (which only in part included flood mitigation) in the Tillamook watershed. Unfortunately, Tillamook billed FEMA for the debris removal under both its traditional disaster recovery award and the alternative environmental project.[4]\n\nIn a disaster, it is understandable that quick action is needed and some things fall through the cracks. However, with longer-term projects, particularly those not actually mitigating disaster damage or lower priority projects like golf course reconstruction, it should not be that hard to figure out if something is covered by insurance or already paid for.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T20:23:36Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.paul.senate.gov/news-sen-rand-paul-calls-out-fema-spending-50-million-duplicative-disaster-payments-latest-waste/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6839518900960684, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}