Is Obama Backpedaling on National Disaster Insurance?
By Posted by Julie Patel on May 13, 2009 10:55 AM President Barack Obama supported the idea of broadening the role of the federal government to provide disaster insurance during his campaign — a critical issue for many Floridians — but is he changing his mind now? Congressman Ron Klein, a Florida Democrat, doesn’t think so. Melissa Silverman, his press secretary, says he has been working closely with the Obama administration to develop national insurance catastrophe legislation. Silverman notes that Obama co-sponsored a similar bill last year that among other things, would have allowed states to apply for low-interest loans from the federal government if a disaster strikes. “The time to act is now, before another disaster strikes,” Obama said last fall about the bill. But his administration recently said it “strongly opposes” adding windstorm coverage to the flood insurance program for some of the same reasons one would oppose a national disaster fund, including that it would saddle
