It’s a momentous occasion whenever Congress does anything quickly, but truly historic when the subject is money. But like a cat on a hot tin roof, Congress was snapped out of its business-as-usual slumber last month by the horror wrought by Hurricane Katrina.

In only a few days, Congress approved $62.3 billion in spending on the Gulf to help with relief efforts and to start to rebuild. In the process Congress drafted one of the shortest emergency spending bills in recent memory. While we at TCS are typically of the mindset that longer bills provide more opportunity for political hanky-panky, this Katrina spending bill is so short that it provides little accountability on how the money should be spent. Congress basically created a multi-billion dollar magnet for waste and abuse.

But now that the relief and reconstruction efforts are underway, Congress needs to wake up and fulfill its fiscal oversight duties. The Gulf Coast needs help from Uncle Sam’s deep pockets, but this country can not afford to write another blank check to government agencies and private contractors and then not hold them accountable for how they spend our money. As Peter Parker learned, ‘with great power comes great responsibility’: those who are in charge of distributing the money need to push for more accountability.

We at TCS are doing our part: we have begun a massive project to monitor Katrina contracts. What we have found thus far suggests that the reconstruction effort is moving forward with purpose, but we are very concerned with the high number of no-bid and uncompetitive contracts. And we’ve also found a few contracts that caused us to scratch our heads. Here’s a sampling of some of the most unusual uses of federal taxpayer money:

• $25.50 for a three-inch donut cutter from Zesco Products, Inc.
• $28.50 for a pizza cutter with a 4” blade from Giga Incorporated of Macon, Georgia
• $64.77 for an aluminum rolling pin with ball bearing handle from Powers Industrial Equipment, Inc.
• $109.35 for a new pastry decorating bag from Powers Industrial Equipment, Inc.
• $276.84 for 3 new steak knives from Lamson & Goodnow Manufacturing Co.
• $583.76 for a filing cabinet from Configuration Incorporated
• $88,584.24 for a combat assault and tactical vehicle purchased from Skyland Equipment Company
• $281,200 for athletic and sporting goods equipment from the Coleman Company
• $1,457,200 for 1000 Gateway laptops from Red River Computer Co, hundreds of dollars more than the price per unit advertised on the internet.
• $2,494,392.10 for Pen Activated Computer Tablets and Accessories

We will continue to keep track of the spending of this money as the recovery and rebuilding of the Gulf Coast region continues. Already we have profiled numerous companies that have received contracts for work in the region, as well as compiled a comprehensive database of all the contracts, companies, and values. All of this information will be regularly updated, so check back often and help us keep Congress, government agencies, and contractors on their toes.