Credit Cards Online Information

WASHINGTON -- Federal employees helping Katrina victims charged more than $39 million on government credit cards for disaster relief items. Congressional investigators want to make sure the taxpayers got a good deal.

And a senator, citing past abuse, wants to know whether anyone used the cards for holiday shopping.

Many of the goods, which included $60,639 for sleeping bags and $713 for four 27-inch televisions, were bought at retail rather than cheaper volume prices after the Aug. 29 storm, federal records show.

Spending also included $150,000 worth of Jockey underwear, six nail clippers and $3,200 for golf carts.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency says it needed some items quickly -- such as the underwear -- for evacuees in temporary shelters. Jockey International says the underwear sold at or below the company's cost.

Federal officials responding to Katrina "were not going to spend days calling all across the country and haggling prices -- the initial purchases were about saving lives," said Homeland Security Department spokesman Larry Orluskie.

The lists of purchases provided by five agencies show nothing outrageous -- bottles of water, hundreds of maps of New Orleans and Texas, pizza dinners and lots of insect repellent. The Homeland Security Department also bought 50 heart defibrillators for nearly $1.5 million for use at shelters.

The credit card bills, paid by Uncle Sam, were vulnerable for abuse in the Katrina aftermath after agencies were allowed to raise the credit limit from $15,000 to $250,000. That authority was repealed Oct. 3.

PAST ABUSES CITED

There is a history of credit card abuse by government employees, including charges for $400 Coach briefcases, a dog and Victoria's Secret clothing.

Sen. Charles Grassley, chairman of the Finance Committee who successfully pushed for the credit limits to be lowered back to $15,000, said his office was going to make sure "hardworking Americans don't pay for government employees' Christmas shopping."

"When I began looking into this issue several years ago, we uncovered hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money that was lost due to inadequate controls," said Grassley (R-Iowa). "When you've seen this kind of abuse, it's hard to justify increasing the limit on these cards."

# posted by Medical Information : 5:11 AM