Rep. Paul: FEMA has ‘one of the worst reputations for a bureaucracy ever’

The Hill ^ | 28 Aug 2011 | Meghashyam Mali

[Palter]

Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul (Texas) continued his criticisms of FEMA claiming that the agency’s approach is “deeply flawed.”

"It’s a system of bureaucratic centralized economic planning that is a policy that is deeply flawed," Paul said on Fox News Sunday. He argued that FEMA had “one of the worst reputations for a bureaucracy ever.”

“I want to transition us out of this dependency,” said Paul, arguing that people needed to abandon the idea that “FEMA will take care of us and everything will be OK.”

While the administration is relying on FEMA to handle the response to Hurricane Irene which is barreling up the Eastern seaboard, Paul has strongly criticized the agency saying he had little faith in its ability to respond to disasters and believed it did more to hinder recovery efforts.

Paul stressed that FEMA was in “big trouble financially” noting that their flood relief program was “$20 billion in debt” and cast doubt that additional emergency funds could be found for FEMA.

“Where would the money come from … You try to make these programs work the best you can, but you can’t just keep saying they need money," he said. “We are out of money.”

He suggested that if President Obama wanted to increase funding for FEMA he would need to look to curtail the US involvement in Libya. The president could “save a billion dollars from the overseas warmongering,” Paul said.

Paul criticized the agency’s flood insurance program which allows property owners to purchase insurance from FEMA for homes private insurers were not willing to back. “The whole idea of FEMA is a gross distortion of insurance,” Paul argued. “It’s so far removed from the market and what insurance should be about.”

With the East Coast dealing with the impact of Hurricane Irene, Paul has been vocal in his concerns about FEMA. “FEMA is not a good friend to most people in Texas because all they do is come in and tell you what to do and can’t do. You can’t get into your houses and they hinder the local people and they hinder volunteers from going in,” Paul said while campaigning Saturday. “There is no magic about FEMA.”

In his interview on Fox News Sunday, Paul also addressed concerns that he has little realistic chance of winning the Republican nomination. “I’m in it to win it,” he insisted.

Paul also clarified his criticism of the US role in NATO’s campaign against the Gadhafi regime in Libya. He said that Gadhafi’s downfall was a “good thing” but took issue with the US involvement. “I think it’s a good thing, it’s the way we did it,” he said.

Paul also expressed worries about how the situation in Libya would unfold. He said he had “no idea what will come out of Libya, I’m very skeptical.” “We’ve already said troops are needed now to maintain order. We don’t know what the rebels represent and we know al Qaeda is already there.”

The “unintended consequences of our foreign policy are so overwhelming,” warned Paul.

Paul also downplayed Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s speech Friday in Jackson Hole, Wyo. Bernanke was “continuously quantitatively easing,” said Paul who added that the chairman’s remarks were “not a big change in things.”

The congressman saw little change in the Fed’s policies. Bernanke still needs to “quit monetizing debt,” Paul said.

[Steve Van Doorn]

I would say the BATF but they both need to go away

[norwaypinesavage]

I recently dealt with FEMA, and Paul understates the problem. My house was built on a hill sticking out of a flood plane. Since it was on the FEMA flood plane map, it was up to me to prove it wasn't in the flood zone. The process involved a 21 page application with engineered elevation certificates, maps, forms, surveys, blue prints, and declarations. The instruction book was 250 pages. The result was a letter stating I didn't need the permit.

Now the process is even longer. You need a LOMA (Letter of Map Amendment) changing the map with your property excluded. It's even more pages in the permit.

[cripplecreek]

An obvious truth.

[Don Corleone]

"It’s a system of bureaucratic centralized economic planning that is a policy that is deeply flawed,

But it is central to all Marxist ideas, especially the Marxist in the 1/2 White House and his many czars.

[cripplecreek]

My congressman has been fighting the FEMA floodplain insurance mandate since he was elected.

My house is in a floodplain that didn’t exist a few years ago.

[Steve Van Doorn]

"The “unintended consequences of our foreign policy are so overwhelming,” warned Paul."

9 times out of 10 he is right on this one.

I know most on Freerepublic think it was a good idea to save Kuwait and Saudi Arabia from Saddam but i do not and never did. GWII we had to clean up that was because of the mistake of GWI.

When a government is based on Sharia law we should never had protected them. Saddam would have still sold his oil to us once he took Saudi Arabia.

[NoLibZone]

What did the 12 term congresscritter say about Congresses reputation?

[Pontiac]

Paul stressed that FEMA was in “big trouble financially” noting that their flood relief program was “$20 billion in debt” and cast doubt that additional emergency funds could be found for FEMA.

“Where would the money come from … You try to make these programs work the best you can, but you can’t just keep saying they need money," he said. “We are out of money.”

Yep. I just called my uncle with a gambling problem that always has a bookie hounding him and asked him to loan me fifty bucks till payday.

This is how I see all of these federal agencies and states like New York and California that look to the federal government to bail them out of the fiscal mess that they have gotten themselves in to.

You can’t go to Uncle Sam who is hock up to his teeth and ask him to bail you out. Uncle Sam is broke and doesn’t have a pot.

[Calvin Locke]

I forgot about the BATF. I first thought of "Big Sis", then Andrew Cuomo's old haunt, HUD.

I'd throw in the State Dept, too.

At this point, just about anything with an "Obama" touch is now a candidate for the "worst" moniker.

[Sherman Logan]

My house is in a floodplain that didn’t exist a few years ago.

A floodplain is a physical fact, not just an area on a map. Though the physical facts can change with drainage patterns, development, etc.

It is possible for an area that should have been designated flood plain byt wasn't to be changed, properly. It is also possible for an area that was and still is a flood plain to be designated as outside the flood plain, often for purposes of development. Oddly enough, I suspect political influence sometimes enters into such decisions.

IOW, sometimes designating an area as flood plain when it previously wasn't so designated is appropriate. And sometimes it isn't. But the map isn't the territory.

[cripplecreek]

And sometimes its so a struggling federal agency can siphon more money out of insurance companies and their customers.

[justa-hairyape]

Governments under respond and down play real catastrophic emergencies (ex. Japan 3 nuclear reactor meltdowns), while they over respond and over hype non-catastrophic emergencies (ex. Hurricane Irene 2011).

There is a simple reason for this, a real catastrophic disaster overwhelms the insignificant capabilities the government actually possesses. And they know that.