[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 116 (Thursday, July 19, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H8124]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY AND WASTE

  (Mr. DUNCAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, we hear and read about so many examples of 
waste by the Federal bureaucracy that almost nothing shocks or 
surprises us anymore. However, the Washington Post reported yesterday 
on a really ridiculous waste of money.
  The Federal Emergency Management Agency paid $24 million for 112,000 
tons of ice after Hurricane Katrina. 42,000 tons were stored for future 
use, and FEMA paid $12.5 million in storage fees. Now, all this unused 
ice is going to be thrown away. But here is the really ridiculous part.
  FEMA is going to pay $3.4 million, $3,400,000 to melt the ice. It's 
over 90 degrees outside. The Department of Homeland Security, of which 
FEMA is a part, has 171,000 employees. A first-grader could melt ice. 
But the Federal Government is going to pay $3,400,000 to have it done.
  No wonder the Federal Government is almost $9 trillion in debt. If we 
ever created a Hall of Fame of government waste, FEMA should be the 
first admission.

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