(AFX) - Democrats in Congress next year are pledging closer oversight of how $88 billion in federal aid for Hurricane Katrina is being spent. Some of the committee reviews planned and the incoming chairpersons:
SENATE
-- Appropriations: Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., has sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff asking him to speed up recommendations to revamp the Federal Emergency Management Agency; Byrd also described as 'shameful' the department's slow distribution of money to state and local emergency workers.
-- Homeland Security: Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., has said he will continue the committee's work in examining FEMA's disaster aid program as well as purchases made by federal employees with government-issued credit cards.
-- Small Business: John Kerry, D-Mass., is calling for hearings on the Small Business Administration's disaster loan program, saying only about one-fifth of the $10 billion in loans had reached affected areas; wants 'aggressive contracting oversight' of work slated for small firms.
HOUSE
-- Financial Services: Maxine Waters, D-Calif., who chairs a subcommittee, intends to call hearings on the housing aid backlog by FEMA and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Barney Frank, D-Mass., is the committee's chairman.
-- Government Reform: Henry Waxman, D-Calif., plans to continue hearings on contracting abuses, including waste in no-bid contracts and multilevel subcontracting. Also will scrutinize use of government-issued credit cards and distribution of contracts to small and minority-owned businesses.
-- Homeland Security: Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., wants hearings on contracting, such as no-bid contracts and distribution to small and minority-owned businesses; will also review FEMA's compliance with the federal Stafford Act, which requires an orderly means of providing disaster aid.
-- Small Business: Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., will schedule hearings on the Katrina disaster response and its impact on small business, such as contracting and the SBA's disaster loan program.
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