Obama Administration Asking Hurricane Katrina Victims To Give Back Money

Need further proof that the "first black President" doesn't give a rat's ass about black people? Yunno, that 95% electorate that voted for him in 2008 mostly based off the color of his skin. Since Barry came into office three years ago he's not only visited New Orleans all but a handful of times, but has also okayed a moratorium on deep-water drilling, which has put thousands of jobs at risk and angered many in Louisiana. And now through FEMA, Barry has the nerve to ask Hurricane Katrina victims for their money back?!? Yet despite all of this, black liberals who've never met a liberal Democrat politician that they didn't like, will no doubt stand behind Barry in 2012 even while he continues to ignore their needs and wants:

When the Federal Emergency Management Agency mailed out 83,000 debt notices this year to victims of Hurricane Katrina and other 2005 storms, one of the letters showed up in David Bellinger’s mailbox. Bellinger, who is blind, needed a friend to read it and break the news that FEMA wants him to pay back more than $3,200 in federal aid he received after Katrina.


“I nearly had a stroke,” recalls the 63-year-old, who moved to Atlanta after the storm wrecked his New Orleans home. “I’m totally blind. I subsist entirely on a Social Security disability check. If I have to pay this money back, it would pretty much wipe out all the savings I have.”


Many other Gulf Coast hurricane victims are in the same position, angry and frustrated at the prospect of repaying money they spent years ago as they tried to rebuild their lives.


FEMA is seeking to recover more than $385 million it says was improperly paid to victims of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. The debts, which average about $4,622 per recipient, represent slightly less than 5 percent of the roughly $8 billion that FEMA distributed after the storms. At least some of the overpayments were due to FEMA employees’ own mistakes, ranging from clerical errors to failing to interview applicants, according to congressional testimony.


But the agency says it is required by law to make an effort to recover improper payments, even if the recipient wasn’t at fault. Last week, however, Congress approved legislation that would allow FEMA to waive many of the debts. President Barack Obama signed the measure - part of a $1 trillion spending package - into law last Friday.


FEMA spokeswoman Rachel Racusen said the agency is reviewing the law’s provisions and developing a plan to implement them. It remains to be seen how many recipients of FEMA money could benefit from the change.


Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat who sponsored the provision, said disaster victims shouldn’t be punished because FEMA was “dysfunctional.”


“They have significantly improved the process,” Landrieu said. “This is very unlikely to happen again.”