The Senate voted Thursday to approve bipartisan legislation that would block dramatic increases in premiums paid by some property owners covered under the federal flood insurance program.

The 72-22 vote sends the bill to President Barack Obama, who is expected to sign it. Republican Sens. Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker voted for it. The House overwhelmingly approved the legislation last week.

“We basically ended up with a really balanced compromise between some of the things the Senate wanted (and) some of the things the House wanted,” said Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., who championed the measure in the Senate. “But what we all wanted was affordability, and we all got it.”

Under the bill, called the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act, premiums under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) could increase no more than 18 percent per property annually.

The House legislation was crafted by Republican Rep. Michael Grimm of New York in response to premiums that in some cases had increased tenfold.

A bill the Senate passed in January, authored by Sens. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., and Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., would have delayed premium increases for about four years until the Federal Emergency Management Agency completed a study on how to make the higher rates affordable.

“This bill will provide much-needed relief for families and businesses across Mississippi,” said Wicker, who pushed the bill in the Senate. “This compromise will give homeowners some peace of mind, assuring them that their flood insurance rates will not immediately soar from several hundred dollars to the thousands and tens of thousands.”

The compromise bill approved Thursday was the product of intense negotiations in the House.

“This bill is what everyday, middle-class Americans in Mississippi and across the country have been waiting for,” said Republican Rep. Steven Palazzo, who worked on the compromise.

Palazzo also is co-chairman of a congressional flood insurance caucus set up to address concerns about the increasing rates.

Supporters of the measure said the premium increases were making it impossible for many people to keep their homes or sell them.

“This bill is responsive to the Mississippians I’ve heard from, many of whom are longtime residents or on fixed incomes,” Cochran said. “Even though they followed all of the government’s rules, they were facing unfair costs and mandates that this legislation will now alleviate.”

Critics, however, say taxpayers will be left to foot the bill for the financially troubled insurance program.

The premium increases were required under a 2012 law known as Biggert-Waters that was designed to make the government’s flood insurance program financially solvent by bringing rates in line with true flooding risks.

Premiums under the program have been heavily subsidized by taxpayers, and the program is $24 billion in debt.

The measure approved Thursday also repeals a provision in the Biggert-Waters law that increases premiums — up to the full-risk rate over five years — when the Federal Emergency Management Agency adopts new flood maps.

Under the compromise, homes that met code when they were built would be protected from rate spikes due to new flood mapping.

Biggert-Waters imposed 25 percent rate hikes on some but not all properties that have received premium subsidies through the National Flood Insurance Program. The program, run by FEMA, has traditionally charged premiums at about 40-45 percent of their full cost, with taxpayers subsidizing the rest.

The compromise legislation faced opposition from some conservative Senate lawmakers, who said it was rushed to a vote.

“We’ve solved a very short-term problem and made it a long-term problem,’’ said Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. “We didn’t really do our work because we were in such a hurry to take the political pressure off of the increases. …What we did is we chose politicians to win and the future to lose in this country.”

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U.S. Senators Thad Cochran, R-Miss., and Roger Wicker, R-Miss., have cosponsored the “Freeing Americans from Inequitable Requirements (FAIR) Act,” a bill that would delay Obamacare’s individual mandate whenever its employer mandate is delayed. The FAIR Act was introduced by Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb.

“It would be far better to fully repeal the Affordable Care Act and start over, but at minimum the President shouldn’t be allowed to pick and choose who receives relief from the law’s burdensome mandates,” Cochran said.

“The Obama Administration should not make individuals and families play by a different set of rules than businesses,” Wicker said. “Providing Obamacare relief to some businesses while taxing individuals is one of many ways the Administration has rewritten the President’s signature health-care law for political gain. This is yet another sign that Obamacare is unfair, unworkable, and must be repealed.”

In February, the Obama Administration announced a two-year extension on the requirement for employers with 50 to 99 workers to offer health care to 95 percent of full-time workers. If employers do not meet this criterion by 2016, they face a federal penalty. Larger companies have already received a mandate delay until 2015 but must currently offer health insurance to 70 percent of employees or pay a fine.

The date for individuals to enroll in Obamacare and avoid a tax penalty is March 31, 2014.

Sens. Cochran and Wicker voted against passage of Obamacare and have voted repeatedly to delay, repeal, and replace the law.

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COCHRAN INTRODUCES GUN-OWNER REGISTRATION INFORMATION PROTECTION ACT

GRIP Act Seeks to Close Loophole to Prohibit Federal Participation in Gun Owner Data Collection

U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) today introduced legislation that would prohibit any federal funding from being used to support a gun registry maintained by any other organization, including state and local governments.

The Gun-owner Registration Information Protection Act, or GRIP Act, would clarify existing law that bars the federal government from storing information acquired during the firearms background check process. The GRIP Act would extend that prohibition to prevent any federal funding from being used to contribute to nonfederal gun registries. The Cochran measure has attracted 12 original cosponsors and has been endorsed by the National Rifle Association.

“The federal government should not play any role in misguided gun control initiatives that involve the storage or public distribution of personal information of law-abiding people who own or purchase firearms legally,” Cochran said.

“There is nothing in law today that says federal resources can’t be used, either intentionally or otherwise by a state or local government, to collect and store personally identifiable information related to legal firearm purchases and ownership. This legislation would close that loophole,” he said.

In addressing state and local gun registry programs, the expanded federal prohibition in the GRIP Act would ensure that states and local entities that benefit from federal grant programs, such as the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program, do not use that funding to create or support full or partial registries of firearms information.

“Gun registries lead to confiscation. That’s why they are at the top of every gun control supporter’s wish list,” said Chris Cox, executive director, National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action. “Senator Cochran’s legislation recognizes this threat, and would block the use of federal funds to support gun registration schemes at the state or local level. On behalf of the NRA’s five million members, I would like to thank Senator Cochran for his leadership on this issue and his continued fight to protect our Second Amendment freedoms.”

The legislation does not include any limitations related to state recordkeeping for permitting, law enforcement-issued firearms, or lost or stolen firearms.

Cochran initially developed an amendment along the lines of the GRIP Act during the 2013 Senate debate on gun control. The gun control debate collapsed in April 2013 before the amendment could be offered.

The 2013 amendment, as well as the GRIP Act, was inspired, in part, by a Mississippi state law enacted through the leadership of Governor Phil Bryant in March 2013 that ensures the personal information of carry permit holders and applicants remains confidential and exempt from the Mississippi Public Records Act.

Original cosponsors of the GRIP Act include Senators Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Susan Collins (R-Me.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Mike Johanns (R-Neb.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

LINKS:
• GRIP Act legislation: 
• GRIP Act one-pager: 

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Mississippi is one of only four states that will be receiving additional funds from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for dredging and flood control along its major tributaries, according to U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran.

The Mississippi Republican said in a news release that the corps will give an additional $14.4 million to Mississippi this year to support more dredging, flood control and other construction and maintenance projects.

Cochran said Congress approved the additional funding in January.

In addition to Mississippi, portions of the funding will be used in Tennessee, Arkansas and Louisiana.

Cochran said some of the funds will go to dredging projects at the harbors at Rosedale, Greenville, Vicksburg, Gulfport and Pascagoula.

It will also assist with maintenance of flood control projects like Arkabutla Lake, which provides critical flood protection for the Mississippi Delta while enhancing outdoor recreation and tourism.

“The Army Corps of Engineers has determined that it should direct funding for channel management, flood control and other work needed in Mississippi, which is good news for areas of our state whose safety and livelihoods rely on these projects,” Cochran said.

Cochran serves on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Corps of Engineers.

“Congress is not funding ‘new starts’ projects without authorization or a presidential request, so the commitment to direct additional resources to Mississippi should help ensure the safety and viability of river management projects and infrastructure in our state,” Cochran said.

Cochran said the Corps of Engineers has indicated it will direct resources for the following MR&T projects in Mississippi this year:

• $2.8 million, Yazoo Basin, Delta Headwater Project.

• $800,000, Yazoo Basin, Big Sunflower.

• $520,000, Big Sunflower River Watershed.

• $400,000, Yazoo Basin, Yazoo Backwater Area.

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Each chamber of Congress has now approved changes in the National Flood Insurance Program that would make it more affordable for homeowners.

We commend Sen. Thad Cochran, Sen. Roger Wicker and Rep. Steven Palazzo for helping convince their colleagues to modify the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012. We hope they will be just as successful in reconciling the differences in the House and Senate versions of the bills.

It has not been easy reaching this point. There has been a concerted effort to brand the NFIP as a federal subsidy for protecting the beachfront vacation homes of the wealthy. This campaign insults the far more numerous middle-class homeowners whose property is also in a flood zone but who cannot afford skyrocketing increases in their premiums.

While too much attention has been given a sliver of NFIP policyholders, too little has been given the financial history of the NFIP.

A study of the NFIP released last year by Greater New Orleans Inc. found that since the late 1960s, NFIP collected $44.72 billion in premiums and paid out $44.71 billion in claims. But the NFIP also spent nearly $20 billion on operating expenses and commissions for insurance agents. That is a hefty amount of overhead.

So we again ask Congress to examine NFIP’s operating costs, as well as its rate structure.

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