Lawmakers Fight Back Against FEMA's Request For Sandy Victims To Pay Back Funds
LONG BEACH, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Efforts are underway to help victims of Superstorm Sandy who are being told they owe the federal government money.
On Friday, Reps. Kathleen Rice and Gregory Meeks joined homeowners in Long Beach, where they said they want the unfair debts to be forgiven, WCBS 880's Sophia Hall reported.
Lawmakers Fight Back Against FEMA's Request For Sandy Victims To Pay Back Funds
FEMA is asking 1,000 Sandy victims to return money that was overpaid to them.
"I sent in the forms. They sent me a check. I cashed the check. I gave it to the people to rebuild my house and now they want the money back," said Alan Overstein of Cedarhurst.
"I couldn't believe it," Ed Schaefer added.
Two years after he was flooded by Sandy, Schaefer said FEMA told him he owed them money.
"Thirteen-thousand dollars at $225 a month," Schaefer said.
As CBS2's Carolyn Gusoff reported, FEMA wants payback because mistakes were made, but lawmakers said the burden shouldn't fall on the recipients.
"They might have made an honest mistake in an overwhelming and confusing application process. Or, as we are hearing, FEMA might have made a mistake," Rice said. "Either way, they don't deserve to be haunted by an innocent mistake."
Rice and Meeks are sponsoring legislation to allow FEMA to forgive debts owed by storm victims, instead of what they call trying to "clawback" the overpaid money, Gusoff reported.
"If you don't pay by a certain date, you will then receive additional finance charges, you receive penalties," Meeks said. "That's just something that's not the right thing to do and should not be happening."
On Wyoming Avenue in Long Beach, Elizabeth Treston said she was one of the 1,000 who were contacted by FEMA.
"Mine was $4,500 and change. It is a lot of money," she told Hall.
Treston said she put the amount on her credit card.
"I thought it was a letter -- 'How you doing? We are just checking in,'" Treston told Gusoff. "That it came on the two-year anniversary of Sandy, that seemed extra cruel."
The FEMA letter claimed there had been a duplication of funds. However, it added that of the $1.4 billion paid to Sandy victims, only 2 percent was paid in error.
"You know what? You make the mistake, you pay the price. Not the residents that deserve this money," Nassau County Legislator Denise Ford said.
FEMA said it struggles to provide quick financial help without much oversight while being protective of taxpayer money.
Members of Congress are asking the agency to postpone collecting the debts until lawmakers can act on the proposal, which could happen quickly with bi-partisan support.
"We want to do everything we can to continue to work with Congress and make sure we provide needed assistance, while at the same time remaining good stewards of taxpayer dollars," FEMA spokesman Rafael Lemaitre said.
