Category: Gene Taylor

Gene Taylor gives an extensive interview to Seapower Magazine on Maritime Issues

While the Wall Street money changers have gotten to know Gene because of his relentless pursuit of insurance reform, he made his mark in military circles, especially the Navy and Coast Guard as Chair of the House Seapower Subcommittee. Not only does Gene bring mucho experience and common sense to this important oversight position, his Chairmanship helps insure the entire region continues to have the good paying jobs building ships that protect our country and it’s interests. I think our readers will find Gene’s interview most informative. – sop

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INTERVIEW: U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss. Chairman of the House Armed Services Seapower and Expeditionary Forces Subcommittee

BREAKING: Gene Taylor Joins 14 Other US Representatives Urging Speaker Pelosi to Revoke the Anti-Trust Exemptions for Health Insurance Companies

 

TAYLOR, DEFAZIO, WELCH, STUPAK URGE SPEAKER TO REVOKE ANTI-TRUST EXEMPTIONS FOR HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES

WASHINGTON, DC – Reps. Gene Taylor (D-MS) Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Bart Stupak (D-MI) today sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi urging her to include language in the health reform bill that would require the health insurance industry to operate under the same anti-trust laws as all other industries.

“Insurance companies should not be above the law.”  Rep. Taylor stated. “While this effort applies only to health insurance, Congress should follow up and repeal the antitrust exemption for all lines of insurance.”

The health insurance industry–as well as all other lines of insurance–has operated beyond the reach of America’s anti-trust laws since the McCarran-Ferguson Act was passed by Congress in 1945. This exemption was intended to be temporary, but it has not turned out that way. The insurance industry claims that are currently subject to state anti-trust laws. The truth is many states have limited resources to investigate and go after anti-trust violations.

Repealing the antiquated McCarran-Ferguson law would effectively end insurance company collusion and bring much-needed competition to the industry. The Consumer Federation of America has said that this action alone would save consumers more than $40 billion in insurance premiums.

The letter, also signed by Reps. John W. Olver, Daniel Lipinski, Pete Visclosky, Raul Grijalva, Betty Sutton, Elijah E. Cummings, Dennis Kucinich, Eric Massa, Earl Blumenauer, Brian Baird and Bob Filner, is available below: Continue reading “BREAKING: Gene Taylor Joins 14 Other US Representatives Urging Speaker Pelosi to Revoke the Anti-Trust Exemptions for Health Insurance Companies”

Dear Mr President We Still Have Insurance Problems: Gene Taylor Writes a Letter to the Prez


Congressman Gene Taylor
U.S. House of Representatives
Fourth District of Mississippi

————————————

2269 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5772
Fax (202) 225-7074

For Immediate Release
Contact: Ana Maria Rosato (202) 253-1308
October 13, 2009

Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) Urges President Obama to Reform National Flood Insurance Program, Act on Multiple Peril Insurance legislation 

Bay St. Louis, Miss. — With the President’s upcoming visit to New Orleans on October 15, 2009, Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) wrote Mr. Obama urging the Administration to reform the National Flood Insurance Program and revisit the Multiple Peril Insurance Act of 2009, his proposed solution to the homeowner insurance crisis that is sweeping America’s homeowners throughout the Gulf and Atlantic coastal states. Rep. Taylor urged the Administration to engage in “more actively in reforming the National Flood Insurance Program, providing for better disaster insurance coverage, and improving other disaster response and recovery programs.”

Rep. Taylor’s letter opened by reminding President Obama that since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Mississippi Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, he has not yet visited the area either as a Senator, a candidate for President, or as President. In the letter, the Mississippi Congressman stated:

“Immediately after [Hurricane] Katrina, we learned that some of the largest insurance companies in America were not going to honor their [homeowner] policies.” Continue reading “Dear Mr President We Still Have Insurance Problems: Gene Taylor Writes a Letter to the Prez”

Gene Taylor on Protecting Coastal Homeowners

Protecting Homeowners the Right Course of Action

By Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.)

Four years after Hurricane Katrina tore through the Mississippi Gulf Coast, rebuilding homes and communities continues at a snail’s pace. The protection we thought was there to ensure our speedy recovery is the obstacle that stands in our way: homeowner insurance—both its cost and its payment, or the lack thereof.

Skyrocketing cost of homeowner protection

Along the Mississippi Gulf Coast’s three counties—Hancock, Harrison, and Jackson, the residential real estate market demonstrates the ripple effect this insurance crisis is having in our economy and recovery. One large coastal real estate firm recently informed my office that the number of residential contracts that fall through at closing has risen dramatically. Before Katrina, the number was less than 10%. Today, that number has more than tripled to nearly 1/3 of all contracts. The reason? The skyrocketing cost of homeowner’s insurance.

When the bank includes the exorbitant insurance premiums into the debt-ratio equation for the mortgage loan, an increasing number of prospective buyers no longer qualify for the loan. This is so prevalent that coastal realtors are advising potential buyers to shop for insurance before they begin to look for a home.

Commercial insurance rates have also soared for small business owners. In 2007, the Hancock County Chamber of Commerce reported that its members had seen an average increase in premiums of 346 percent with the range between 300 to nearly 670 percent.
 

Continue reading “Gene Taylor on Protecting Coastal Homeowners”

Breaking Gene Taylor Press Release: Still Stuck on Stupid at FEMA

 

CONGRESSMAN GENE TAYLOR

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FOURTH DISTRICT OF MISSISSIPPI

————————————

2269 Rayburn HOB

Washington, DC 20515

(202) 225-5772

Fax (202) 225-7074

 
 

For Immediate Release                   Contact: Ana Maria Rosato  
August 25, 2009                                                (202) 253-1308

                                                                                                               
 

U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss) Congratulates Harrison County

School District for Leadership in Reigning in Government Spending

While Getting Job Done

(Gulfport, Miss.) – A recent audit by the FEMA inspector General disclosed that the Harrison County School District saved taxpayers $4.1 million. The school district had been awarded $20.9 million in Hazard Mitigation Grants to build the new D’Iberville and West Harrison High Schools to the highest standards to function as shelters. The school district was able to contract for and complete the work for $16.8 million.

“Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the FEMA audit did not thank the school district for saving $4.1 million in taxpayer funds.” stated Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss). Instead, FEMA criticized the state for not reprogramming the million funds to other projects right away. Continue reading “Breaking Gene Taylor Press Release: Still Stuck on Stupid at FEMA”

Congressman Gene Taylor’s Town Hall Meeting

taylor 1Sop is on site and has been for an hour now.  He’s now reporting the crowd is so large that some may be turned away.  One of the first photographs he said shows an early crowd standing in line.

The crowd came with signs - but I can't see what they say.
The crowd came with signs - but I can't see what they say.

I’m playing catch up at this point and pulling messages and photographs as fast as I can now.

I’ve had to bump two earlier pictures down to get this one in – but here’s Gene with the woman who calmed the crowd down (temporarily?) reminding them both parties were responsible for “the mess”!

Taylor 12

Light from the big window is giving Sop fits and clearly there is no room for him to move around - but here's Gene talking with the crowd not "at" it.
Light from the big window is giving Sop fits and clearly there is no room for him to move around - but here's Gene talking with the crowd not "at" it.
Taylor 2
Before the meeting started, Gene had a full house!

Taylor’s Town Hall meeting to showcase “party manners”

Coast residents are planning to show their “party manners” at Congressman Taylor’s upcoming Town Hall meeting, according to this Sun Herald story.

White gloves are not required – but kid gloves may be needed,  Frankly, I doubt Gene if-there-was-a-hell-no-button-I’d-push-it Taylor has a pair of either:

South Mississippi Democrats plan to show solidarity and support for U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor at his town hall meeting Monday night, when the congressman is likely to face tough questioning from conservatives in a movement that has pressed officials at gatherings across the country this month.

Conservative Web sites are directing people to attend their representatives’ meetings to grill them about President Barack Obama’s health care plans, the economy and other issues.

Those planning to show up with the local “We Surround Them/912 Project” may have second thoughts and decide to grill their leader instead. Continue reading “Taylor’s Town Hall meeting to showcase “party manners””

Confessions of a Former Insurance PR Executive Part 1: Big Insurance and the GOP Playbook

The industry has always tried to make Americans think that government-run systems are the worst thing that could possibly happen to them, that if you even consider that, you’re heading down on the slippery slope towards socialism. So they have used scare tactics for years and years and years, to keep that from happening………it could potentially reduce the profits of these big companies. So that is their biggest concern.

I sat spell bound reading the confessions of a former insurance PR executive who recently went on the air revealing all the dirty tricks of the trade.

A. That means that part of the effort to discredit this film was to use lobbyists and their own staff to go onto Capitol Hill and say, “Look, you don’t want to believe this……..You don’t want to talk about it. You don’t want to endorse it. And if you do, we can make things tough for you.”

Q: How?

A: By running ads, commercials in your home district when you’re running for reelection, not contributing to your campaigns again, or contributing to your competitor.

Q: This is fascinating. You know, “Build awareness among centrist Democratic policy organizations–”

A: Right.

Q: “–including the Democratic Leadership Council.”

A: Absolutely.

As we’ve repeatedly pointed out here on slabbed big insurance spreads the money around, mostly to the GOP but also to some key Democrats who are more than willing to do their bidding for some cold hard campaign ca$h.

Q: So you would actually hear politicians mouth the talking points that had been circulated by the industry to discredit…….

A: Absolutely.

Q: You’d hear ordinary people talking that. And politicians as well, right?

A: Absolutely.

Q: So your plan worked.

A: It worked beautifully. Continue reading “Confessions of a Former Insurance PR Executive Part 1: Big Insurance and the GOP Playbook”

Gene Taylor Talks NFIP and Wind Insurance on the House floor

FRANK, B. (D-MA): I yield myself three minutes and I yield for question to our colleague from Mississippi, who has been with our support on our committee, a major proponent for protecting the people who he represents in the area of wind and elsewhere. I yield to the gentleman.

Could it be the gentleman from Massachusetts took the letter from Napolitano with a grain of salt? Many thanks to Nationwide attorney Christopher Landau for enlightening the country on exactly how his client Nationwide fleeced the US taxpayers.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kxt8wuBMhw]

Slabbed Daily July 22-24. Lets tie a few things together

ying-yangThere have been a good number of news tidbits that do not necessarily constitute a post here on Slabbed on their own but when taken together tie up several loose ends and lend context to a story that does merit it’s own post in Mike Chaney’s recent insurance forum held last Thursday and Friday here on the coast.  So let’s backtrack a week and shake us up slabbed insurance cocktail by beginning with Anita Lee’s coverage of day 2:

Gov. Haley Barbour joined the coastal insurance debate Friday, telling an audience he believes regional compacts would be the best way to regulate wind coverage in coastal zones from Texas to Maine.

Barbour introduced The Travelers Insurance Cos. president, Brian MacLean, to explain the company’s proposal for improving the coast insurance market. Insurers have pulled back from coastlines in recent years, leaving state-run wind pools to fill the void.

Wind pools were intended as insurers of last resort, but their market shares have grown to levels that experts agree are unsustainable. Insurance works by spreading risk, not concentrating it.

Haley has been conspicuously absent from the insurance scene refusing to comment on the litigation while offering cheap lip service to Gene Taylor’s multi peril bill. I suspect he and the State GOP has been searching for a way to throw a bone to the people on the coast that helped elect him while working hard to preserve GOP big business bonafides with the campaign money machine that is big insurance. Continue reading “Slabbed Daily July 22-24. Lets tie a few things together”