Le Congressman Chaffetz frustre par la mauvaise gestion de l'aideamericaine a Hait, c'est pathetique a-t-il declare

Chaffetz rips U.S. disaster relief efforts

BY MATT CANHAM

The Salt Lake Tribune

First published May 11 2011 05:11PM
Updated May 11, 2011 11:35PM

Washington • House Republicans on Wednesday called U.S. disaster relief efforts in earthquake-ravaged Haiti "pathetic" and charged the nation's foreign assistance agency with failing to track its money appropriately or monitor the results of its efforts.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, led the attack in a House hearing focused on the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The hearing was an outgrowth of trips Chaffetz and other House members made to Haiti, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq — places where USAID has a major presence. He became frustrated with a lack of information and became convinced the agency had mismanaged its money.

"Americans are paying top dollar for foreign assistance. Unfortunately, the taxpayer is not getting top-dollar results," said Chaffetz, chairman of the House subcommittee on foreign affairs, pointing to USAID's programs in Haiti where rubble and trash overwhelm many streets and many still have no electricity.

USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah defended his agency's response, calling the initial disaster relief effort "tremendous," which included feeding hundreds of thousands of suddenly homeless Haitians and providing medical care. He said the agency has been hampered by bureaucratic delays within the Haitian government and also stressed that progress in Haiti is relative, reminding the congressmen in attendance that it is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere.

But Chaffetz pointed to reports from the inspector general that said USAID was far behind its own goals for rubble removal and the building of temporary shelters, despite having roughly $1 billion in funds.

"The totality of the U.S. response has been pathetic and disappointing," he said

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, told Shah that if this kind of response happened in the United States, he would be fired.

USAID administers $18 billion in foreign assistance and oversees development projects in more than 80 countries, but Afghanistan, Pakistan and Haiti accounted for more than one-fourth of its budget in fiscal year 2010 in large part because of the war and natural disasters.