Jambo called me and asked that I link the Multi-Peril Insurance Bill (H.R. 3121) on the Article of the Week portion of our blog and ask the following question:
Why in God's good Name would Bush want to VETO this legislation?
Now, I admit that it is 62 very dry pages long, and I haven't read all the "pork" that is included or attached to the Bill... but from what I have seen and read, it is a very viable solution to what undoubtedly hundreds of thousands of Americans suffered from after Katrina hit the Coast. I don't understand all the ins and outs of the clauses making allowances for current trends and policy that will have to be adjusted for the new policy, but I will review further.
In the mean time...
Can someone justify this Administrative position for me? WHY is this a veto option for the President that promised to rebuild and revamp the Gulf Coast... no matter the cost?
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4 comments:
This strikes at the heart of "conservatives."
A true Hoover cut conservative would say that government has no business in subsidizing or providing insurance of any kind; that is a private sector job.
I remember certain Reagan cut conservatives jumping on the state provided (and federally backed, to a certain extent) child healthcare benefits for families with no health insurance. A necessary act,(and by the way? Another thing being attacked right now by the President)No one considered that sponging or wasteful spending, or even something the government had no business doing.
I have no statistics, I can't tell you what percentages of homes are no longer insured by "major" carriers, but while State Farm and Allstate had litigation pending for windstorm/flood claims, both companies were reaping profits for the fourth quarter of '05 and the first half of '06 that was only beat by, yeah, you guessed it. Big oil. One policy, one premium, all risks covered. What's so bad about that?
Oh, by the way? I'm not bitter. I got my State Farm check and got my new roof, interior repairs, debris removal and mandatory evacuation money, all of which I WAS ENTITLED TO as a policy holder. Now the same companies that made record profits during and after the storm won't cover new policies and cancelled tons of existing ones. (Policy holders, no claims for ten, fifteen years, dropped after Katrina. I know personally of at least 15.)
If this falls under the heading of big government, so be it. I trust big government way more than big business. I vote, and no matter how big it gets government works for me. Big business does not.
Show me a PRIVATE insurance company or group that didn't fail it's policy holders after Katrina... as far as I know, they all did, to one degree or another.
The Federal Flood Insurance Program paid its policy holders... if you had a policy. The only failings in the program were in the limits the program contained. There were no benefits for extended living expenses outside of a flooded home (something HR 3121 would correct), so how many hundreds of thousands of people were forced to live outside their homes after the flooding with no additional living allowances given?
Expand the policy and revamp the program... this is the only sure and certain "safety net" that millions of people living in flood zones (or potential flood zones) will have when the shit floods.
End of story...
I thought badboy would have commented on this.
Well, I'm a bit torn here. Of course this is contradictory to conservatism. The private versus public sector - that's not even close in my estimation. I'll take "private" every time. However, there are things that it is preferrable the government do, such as conduct wars. I mean we don't contract those out to the private sector (Blackwater not withstanding). Does this fall under the heading of "so vital" that the government should take the reigns such as war making does?
I realize that one pork barrel program after another zips through. I mean it's certainly not fair to ask my neighbor to cover insurance programs for my friends and family in MS - then again neither is it fair for me to pay for a NASCAR museum in North Carolina, but that doesn't stop it from being built on the federal dime.
I realize that within this group this is more than politics, this was (is) real life. We lived it. I haggled with my insurance company for nearly a year. I knew though that with a private business I always had the option of suing - I don't think you can sue the federal govt. So as you see, given this was literally "in my back yard" I am on the fence - not a position I find comfortable or in often. I did notice that three of the cosponsors were Bobby Jindal (R) LA (probably the brightest bulb in LA politics), Congressman Pickering (R) MS - a hard line conservative and Gene Taylor (D) MS - who'd be viewed as a Republican anywhere North of I-10, not to mention he was kind enough to stop and chat with me for 10 minutes in a Gulfport Home Depot once. I had Jambo on the cell trying to feed me the questions he wanted answered - it was kinda funny.
I'll take another look at it - Maxine waters in the primary sponsor but that may have more to do with the Democrat pecking order than her actually writing the thing. Surely she and Pickering aren't on the same wave length.
Also, I didn't read online anywhere that Bush was planning to veto this. Are you guys sure you weren't thinking about the Health Insurance Bill he vetoed today that would expand health insurance to children of middle class American familes earning 250 percent above the poverty line and redefining "children" as 25 years and younger? THAT is a step towards universal healthcare - which is why it was vetoed. I understand why the Dems want it - it doubles from 4 mil to 8 mil the amount of people they can go to and say, "hey, look what I got for you, vote for us again."
"Wheat for the Plebians" as I always say.
This is the bread and butter of democrat strategy - they can go to the public and say, "Bush hates kids." Although at this point they'll probably start with "Bush wants to personally make your kids sick then steal their medicine while they sleep." And schumer will say it with a straight face mind you.
FR
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