Mississippi’s congressional delegation, especially Sens. Roger Wicker and Thad Cochran, worked hard for the passage and enactment of a bill signed a week ago by President Obama rolling back sky-high rate increases on coastal properties and flood plains in the 2012 reform of the National Flood Insurance Program.

The measure will assist residents of coastal areas in Mississippi whose flood insurance premiums soared under the 2012 reforms, with some customers becoming eligible for rebates on costs already paid.

The law caps rate increases at 15 percent and provides refunds for some homeowners who have already incurred much higher premiums in the reforms, which were passed to put the debt-ridden NFIP on stronger footing.

Obama signed the bill without fanfare. Sometimes described as an election-year ploy by coastal-states politicians, the new reform undeniably makes NFIP more affordable for property owners who registered sticker shock when higher rates were imposed following redrawing of flood plain maps by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The bill passed the House on a 306-91 vote. The Senate cleared it in a 72-22 vote.

The new law caps flood insurance premium increases and allows below-market insurance rates to be passed on to people buying homes in flood zones with taxpayer-subsidized policies.

Critics say taxpayers will end up footing the bill when the next disaster strikes instead of homeowners who choose to live in areas susceptible to flooding. Sometimes, especially in times of transition to other systems, the government’s actions need to be modified, and this was the case.

The legislation, as described, offers greatest relief to owners of properties that were originally built to code but subsequently were found to be at greater risk.

The protests of property owners when rate increases were announced got attention across the map and in both parties. The Gulf Coast states were joined by protests along the Atlantic and in other flood plain areas across the nation.

People whose second home is in a flood zone and those whose properties have flooded repeatedly would have seen their premiums go up by 25 percent a year until reaching a level consistent with their real risk of flooding.

Stabilizing the NFIP undoubtedly will be tried again, but a more gradual increase and other methods need to be discussed going forward.

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Ingalls Shipyard will get a $497 million military shipbuilding contract award to construct the seventh National Security Cutter for the U.S. Coast Guard, it was announced Monday.

U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., said the Department of Homeland Security is amending an existing contract with Ingalls to provide FY2014 appropriations to build NSC 7.

“We have a hot production line with this class of ships, and we continue to get better — a tangible result demonstrating the value of serial production,” said Ingalls NSC Program Manager Jim French. “Each ship is built more effectively and more affordably than the one before it, and this is due to the hard work of our shipbuilders who are implementing efficient build plans and bringing our learning curve down as each ship is delivered. We look forward to starting construction on this ship in January 2015.”

U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo, R-4, also welcomed the news.

“These extremely versatile, high-value ships are employed by the U.S. Coast Guard, Department of Defense, and law enforcement agencies. Each of these cutters bear the proud mark of Mississippi’s world-class workforce which continues to deliver these ships on-time and on-budget,” Palazzo said in a release from his office. “We worked hard to ensure this year’s budget included funding for both the seventh and eighth National Security Cutters.”

Ingalls has delivered the first three NSCs and has three more under construction. Hamilton (WMSL 753) is 81 percent complete and will deliver in the third quarter of 2014; James (WMSL 754) is 52 percent complete and will launch in April, and the sixth NSC (WMSL 755) began construction late last year and is scheduled for launch in the fourth quarter of 2015.

The seventh ship, WMSL 756, is scheduled for delivery in 2018.

Cochran serves on the Senate appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Coast Guard and the Department of Homeland Security.

Legend-class NSCs are the flagships of the Coast Guard’s cutter fleet.

Designed to replace the 378-foot Hamilton-class high-endurance cutters that entered service during the 1960s, they are 418 feet long with a 54-foot beam and displace 4,500 tons with a full load. They have a top speed of 28 knots, a range of 12,000 miles, an endurance of 60 days and a crew of 110.

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Chris McDaniel thinks the “military budget compared to the rest of our budget is small.” The following statement was reported in an  in the New York Times yesterday:

Policy details are as foreign to Mr. McDaniel as they are natural to Mr. Cochran…“Relatively speaking, the military budget compared to the rest of our budget is small, is it not?” he (Chris McDaniel) asked a reporter. (It is about 20 percent of federal spending.)

So according to Chris McDaniel, 20% of the federal budget is “small.” The military is one of the largest parts of the budget—almost the same amount as spent on Social Security!

For someone who claims they’re going to reduce federal spending, Chris McDaniel apparently knows nothing about the federal budget…especially the highly important military budget.

Senator Thad Cochran—the only veteran in the election for U.S. Senate—has a strong record of supporting our men and women in uniform, our veterans including more than 200,000 veterans who live in Mississippi, and our military bases that play key roles in our national defense. He is a longtime member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee and is one of Congress’ leading experts on defense issues.

The military presence and operations in Mississippi alone generate more than $2.5 billion in economic impact annually.

Retired Lieutenant General Clark Griffith, former Commander at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi, talked about Senator Cochran’s leadership for our military saying:

“I’ve seen firsthand how hard Senator Thad Cochran works to make sure the men and women in our military have the training, equipment and support they need to do their job protecting America’s freedom. At a time when some people in Washington are talking about cutting our national defense, now more than ever we need Thad Cochran in the Senate working for us because of his knowledge and understanding of the military budget, and his strong commitment to our military.”

This issue highlights another big difference between the candidates in this race for Senate. Thad Cochran has proven his commitment to our nation’s military strength. Chris McDaniel has proven he doesn’t know enough about it to be in the U.S. Senate.

Thad is our strongest voice in Washington fighting the Obama agenda.

Last week, at 20 stops over the course of 1,200 miles on the campaign bus, Thad emphasized his commitment to defending the Constitutional rights of Mississippians. He believes his number one job is looking out for the interests of the people of Mississippi, and he is running again to ensure our state has maximum ability to fight Barack Obama’s bureaucrats in Washington.

The Rankin County GOP’s annual banquet was held in honor of Senator Cochran Tuesday night. Thad told the packed room of about 1,000 conservative Republican activists: “My pledge is to continue to fight in the Senate for our shared conservative values of limited government, free markets, and personal responsibility.”

Governor Phil Bryant gave Thad a strong introduction and warned the crowd about out-of-state groups who are coming into Mississippi attacking and distorting Thad’s record.

A video of Governor Bryant’s remarks and a standing ovation for Senator Cochran can be seen .

Wednesday, Thad spoke to Harrison County Republicans in Gulfport, where he emphasized his consistent opposition to Obamacare:

“We need to repeal Obamacare and we need to do it now,” Senator Cochran said. “That’s why I’ve voted more than 100 times to stop Obamacare, and we can be sure it will happen when we win a Republican majority in the Senate this November.”

When the people throw Harry Reid out of the Majority Leader’s office, Thad will be Appropriations Chairman, which puts him in the best position possible to fight the Obama Administration on Mississippi’s behalf.

From the Coast, to Picayune, Rankin County, Meridian, and stops in between, people are excited about Thad’s reelection because they know how much he has done to help build our state – and what he will do in a Republican majority as Appropriations Chairman.

With so much at stake in this election, we can’t afford to lose any of Mississippi’s strength in Washington. Thad Cochran will continue standing up for Mississippi and fighting for our conservative values.

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