The GOP senatorial contingent from Mississippi and Louisiana are making a renewed push to add optional wind coverage to the National Flood Insurance Program reauthorization bill, S. 2884, currently stalled in the Senate Banking Committee. Michael Newsome at the Sun Herald has the story which uses Senator Wicker as his primary source.
Sen. Roger Wicker said Wednesday he and others are trying to mount another charge to get a multiperils insurance coverage plan to a vote in the Senate, where the measure has stalled.
The multiperils bill, championed by U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor, has passed the House. It would expand the National Flood Insurance Program to cover damage from wind and other damaging conditions associated with catastrophic weather events.
Wicker said he, Sen. Thad Cochran and Sen. David Vitter, R-La., were to meet with Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., who opposes the measure and is a ranking member of the committee that has killed the bill in the past. Senators placed a hold on related legislation in hopes they could add the multiperils coverage as an amendment so the Senate would have to vote on it.
“It will not move forward until we get an agreement,” Wicker said.
But some consumer advocates recently told the Sun Herald they don’t believe the measure can pass in an election year and powerful senators have dug in against it. Some claim the bill would further burden the national flood program, which has an $18 billion deficit.
Wicker said he believes that an extension of the Gulf Opportunities Zone Act of 2005, which gives tax incentives for those who build condos, apartments and businesses, will pass the House after clearing the Senate.
Wicker said he also supported the gas tax holiday, which has recently been touted by presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain on the campaign trail. Opponents say the measure would save residents only a minimal amount, and have equated it to a publicity stunt. But Wicker said the bill, which he acknowledged isn’t a long-term solution, would not cause any lost highway funds, which come from gas taxes, because money from the general fund would cover the difference.
The flood program expires on September 30th. It look as though this political battle will be fought straight down to the wire.
sop
This bill is the first to offer a real solution to the broken insurance model. The only real solution for CAT insurance is to have either the private industry OR the federal government assume all perils for Hurricanes. To split the perils amoung entities is very costly and does not work.