Trump speaks to press after first debate with Biden
New report shows FEMA money failing to get to those in need
TAMPA, Fla. — FEMA money is failing to get to those in need. That's the conclusion of a new report out Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General.
The report was part of an audit following hurricanes that impacted the U.S. in 2017.
It's hard to forget the devastation Hurricane Irma brought to Florida, Harvey to Houston and Maria to Puerto Rico. The new report from the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General shows the $85 million allocated to the Employment Training Administration (ETA) program failed to help prepare vulnerable states for disaster unemployment assistance.
The report states: "We found ETA’s oversight of states vulnerable to major disasters was inadequate. Specifically, ETA did not establish adequate controls to ensure states paid DUA benefits only to eligible individuals and paid them as promptly as administratively feasible.
ETA did not establish adequate controls to ensure states paid benefits only to eligible claimants. ETA did not make a timely on-site monitoring visit to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (FLDEO), or ensure FLDEO and the Virgin Islands Department of Labor (VIDOL) provided DUA training to their staffs or ensure they had developed DUA-specific standard operating procedures as required by the DUA handbook.”
The report also found that at least $5.6 million could have been put to better use. And when it came to how timely benefits were paid out, only 27 percent of claims were paid within 21 days.
The report recommended three changes for the assistant secretary for employment and training:
-
Establish policies, procedures, and controls to ensure states provide DUA staff annual training and have required written state DUA policies and procedures in place.
-
Create a rapid response team consisting of federal and state officials capable of providing technical and other assistance to states impacted by major disasters.
-
Recover $95,699 in questioned costs from the FLDEO and VIDOL for participants whose eligibility they could not substantiate.
https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/nation-world/fema-disaster-unemployment-assistance-hurricane-irma-maria-harvey-florida-texas-puerto-rico/67-87796a36-30db-48de-809e-3e2d344f1890
https://proudboysusa.com/aboutus/
Citing 13 brigades-worth of non-deployable troops, Army looks to holistic health solutions
A surprising number of soldiers are on temporary and permanent medical profiles, which prevent them from fully performing their duties. But a new health and fitness program, which will begin arriving to 28 brigades in fiscal 2021, is intended to curb those numbers over the long-term.
As of April, more than 58,000 soldiers — the equivalent of 13 brigade combat teams — were non-deployable, with 16,500 soldiers on temporary profile and 15,000 soldiers on permanent profile, according to a concept paper for the Holistic Health and Fitness system, or H2F, shared with Army Times.
H2F looks to tackle chronic problems among soldiers, including poor sleep habits, obesity and overuse injuries. The concept paper argues that even a 10 percent reduction in annual musculoskeletal injuries would add a full brigade combat team of personnel back to the deployable force.
Some elements of H2F will be familiar to soldiers, even those who didn’t participate in the pilot program that began in 2018.
For each brigade-sized unit, there are expected to be dietitians, cognitive performance experts, occupational therapists and athletic trainers, and the plan is to set aside 40,000 square feet of dedicated space to train troops and treat injuries.
Some of those resources already exist on post, but currently they’re “stovepiped” on each installation, according to Maj. Gen. Lonnie G. Hibbard, commanding general of the Army’s Center for Initial Military Training.
“What we’re trying to do with H2F is bring all that under a single governance,” Hibbard said during a telephone interview Tuesday. “Really, all of it under a brigade commander so he has his slice, so he can now integrate the five components of fitness onto the training schedule, just like we do for a piece of equipment.”
Those components are: body composition, flexibility, muscular strength, muscular endurance, and cardiorespiratory endurance.
https://www.defensenews.com/news/your-army/2020/09/30/citing-13-brigades-worth-of-non-deployable-troops-army-looks-to-holistic-health-solutions/