SBA disaster loans frustrating hurricane victims

Accusations of Agency Error in Disaster Loans

By RON NIXON and LESLIE EATON
Published: February 27, 2007

Last September, the Small Business Administration, which provides most long-term rebuilding aid to disaster victims, accelerated its lending to homeowners and businesses in the Gulf Coast, responding to criticism that it had been slow to respond to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita of 2005.

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Leaders of the House and Senate committees overseeing the agency said they were concerned about the accusations of improper lending.

“I’m worried that there may have been too much of a focus on quotas over quality of service for disaster victims,” Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts and chairman of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, said in a statement.

“And if that’s true, it’s unacceptable,” Mr. Kerry said. “If in a rush to get paperwork off their desks the S.B.A. shifted the burden to borrowers who have lost everything to Katrina, that’s not a policy, that’s an abdication of responsibility.”

Despite the agency’s new emphasis on speeding the lending process, disaster victims say they continue to experience problems. Donna Colosino, whose family owns a small company in Louisiana that sells power generation equipment, told the House Small Business Committee earlier this month that more than 20 loan officers had dealt with her case. And she said she sent the same documents to the agency more than a dozen times.

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February 27, 2007

Kerry Homeland Security Amendment Would Help Hospitals Communicate in a Disaster

Plan Would Also Direct FCC to Study TV/Phone Backup

WASHINGTON, DC – Sen. John Kerry today announced a plan to provide hospitals with at least $20 million in grants to study ways to improve communications during a terrorist attack or natural disaster. The grant funds are aimed at preventing a repeat of the situation in New Orleans, when patients died as Hurricane Katrina essentially cut off Charity Hospital from the outside world for three days. Kerry also announced a plan to direct the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to evaluate the feasibility of a backup system for emergency communications in case a disaster cuts off all television, radio and electric power. Senator Kerry’s provisions are included in Commerce Committee’s portion of the bill, of which he is a member, to include the provisions on the broader Homeland Security Bill – which was brought to the Senate floor this week.

“We know that we have a long way to go to prepare our country for another emergency,” said Sen. Kerry. “Helping our hospitals develop plans to cope during an emergency makes good sense and will ultimately benefit patients and families. Moreover, we need the FCC to think creatively about how to foster communication during a crisis. I believe that we should be willing to task modern technology to serve this role during an emergency. We must always be vigilant and prepared for another disaster because we never know when the next 9-11 or Katrina will come. I want to thank the Chairman and ranking member of the Commerce Committee for agreeing to these proposals.”