WASHINGTON - Those who believe competition is a good thing are hitting the jackpot as Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and her 2014 Senate opponent, Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, battle to avert huge flood insurance premium hikes for their constituents. The question of who is more successful is a likely issue in the Senate race that experts are already...
WASHINGTON - Those who believe competition is a good thing are hitting the jackpot as Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., and her 2014 Senate opponent, Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, battle to avert huge flood insurance premium hikes for their constituents.
The question of who is more successful is a likely issue in the Senate race that experts are already billing as a cliffhanger, with the winner potentially determining whether Democrats retain control of the Senate, or the GOP takes over.
In May, Landrieu tried to add an amendment delaying big flood insurance premium increases, but was blocked by Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa. under Senate rules that kill amendments when a single member objects.
The following month, Cassidy, largely with the help of Democratic votes, managed to add an amendment to a homeland security funding bill for a one-year delay in implementing higher premiums for some homeowners. These are policyholders who had been grandfathered into modest flood insurance rates because they met elevation standards when they moved into their homes, but now face big increases under the 2012 Biggert-Waters flood insurance law. The law requires a phase in of actuarial rates for those remapped with high risk designations.
Landrieu initially said she hoped to obtain a more comprehensive fix. She said she hasn't given up on that goal, but pushed through the Cassidy amendment to the Senate's homeland spending bill, which passed through her Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee on Tuesday.
Getting similar language in both House and Senate spending bills increases the chances the measure will be adopted, though the failure of the House and Senate to agree on a budget could jeopardize enactment of not only the homeland security bill but other spending bills, as well.
Also Tuesday, Landrieu and Cassidy took credit in separate news releases for a planned visit to Louisiana on Aug. 8 by the Federal Emergency Management Agency official responsible for overseeing the flood insurance program. The official is David Miller and he's agreed to meet with state residents and officials during the visit.
"Mr. Miller's trip is critical for FEMA to understand how these rate increases could dramatically burden homeowners and small business owners in Louisiana and throughout the country," Landrieu said. "I appreciate that Mr. Miller accepted my invitation and look forward to the visit in August. We must find a long-term solution to making flood insurance affordable, accessible and self-sustaining."
Landrieu said she suggested the trip during a conversation and that Miller readily agreed. Cassidy's office put out a press release later Tuesday noting that the congressman, joined by other Louisiana House members, had also invited Miller to meet with Louisiana flood insurance policyholders in a letter.
"Dr. Cassidy has been a leader in the fight to protect Louisiana homeowners and businesses from unjustified (flood insurance) rate hikes," said Cassidy spokesman John Cummins. "Dr. Cassidy is glad that Associate Administrator Miller will honor this request and visit Louisiana soon. Dr. Cassidy's goal continues to be ensuring Louisiana families have some certainty and stability with flood insurance rates."
In an interview Tuesday, Landrieu said she has been asked why she doesn't simply repeal the Biggert-Waters Act, which passed Congress last year and set new flood insurance policies aimed at making the program more fiscally sound.
Landrieu said that it just can't be done.
"There's not enough support to repeal Biggert- Waters," Landrieu said. "There's not enough Republican support. There's not enough support on the Democratic side."
As Sen. Jon Tester, R-Mont., said during Tuesday's Senate Appropriations Subcommittee meeting, there's strong support in Congress to improve the fiscal soundness of a program, which has been operating with a deficit since Hurricane Katrina. Otherwise, he said, taxpayers will have to provide new subsidies to keep the program going - something that would be hard to pass in the current fiscally restrictive climate in Congress.
Landrieu said the delegation has to work together.
"We got to figure out a way to fix it that really helps the people facing higher rates, but doesn't cost taxpayers a huge amount of money and ultimately find a way to have affordable flood insurance for people all over this country," Landrieu said. "This isn't about subsidizing people building $2-million homes on the beaches of Alabama. We don't have beaches in Louisiana. It's about helping people stay in homes where there have been communities for 300 years. These homes are the backbone of the economy in these coastal communities."
Every Louisiana congressional member voted for the flood insurance reform bill, which was attached to a measure funding transportation projects and implementing the Restore Act. The act, a top priority for the Louisiana delegation, provides 80 percent of Clean Water Act fines for the 2010 BP oil spill to Louisiana and four other Gulf states. Still, Landrieu, while voting yes, warned that the changes in the flood insurance program would cause problems that Congress would have to address.
Shortly after the legislation was signed into law in July 2012, Landrieu and the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., sent a letter to FEMA asking the agency to "establish a plan to help residents cope with increased costs as a result of the law."
Rob Maness, running as a conservative Republican in the 2014 Senate raise, called the Senate subcommittee vote to delay some of the premium increases a good development.
"While we have a moral obligation to help those who are currently enrolled in the program, the bigger picture is to get insurance out of the hands of government and back to the free market," Maness said.