WASHINGTON, D.C.–If you live in a flood area and you’re still getting a whopper of a flood insurance bill, that could be because FEMA is dragging it’s feet in D.C., said Sen. Thad Cochran this week. He and a group of senators from other states demanded a meeting with FEMA head Craig Fugate.
Senators David Vitter (R-La.) and John Hoeven (R-N.D.) joined Cochran to send a letter to Fugate requesting a meeting to discuss a plan to implement the recently passed flood insurance reform law and reinstating rates as Congress intended, said a news release from Cochran’s camp.
The Senators want Fugate to explain why property owners continue to be charged higher flood insurance rates, despite a bipartisan law in March to protect them from such unaffordable premium costs.
“On behalf of our constituents, we want to know why the Obama administration continues to uphold unaffordable flood insurance premiums that Congress expressly overturned. This is not fair and any foot dragging by FEMA to implement the new law is unacceptable,” said Cochran.
“The reason we worked so hard to pass our legislation was that people were enduring the hardship of higher premiums,”said Hoven. “FEMA should be implementing the new law now for the very same reason – people are enduring the hardship of higher premiums, but they shouldn’t be because we’ve already passed a law to reduce their high rates.”
It was March 21 when Pres. Obama signed the “Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act,” which permanently reinstates grandfathering and protects against rate increases. Since then, the Senators have learned that FEMA continues to charge participants in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) with increased rates the Biggert Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012.
