More Media Coverage of the Congressional Visit: Anita Lee Puts the Meeting on the Record

I’ll be sharing my own observations in a later post. Here is the story from the front page of today’s Sun Herald.

U.S. House leaders assured an overflow crowd Monday night that they are behind U.S. Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., as he joins a conference committee to push for multiperil insurance coverage for coastal Americans. 

Residents and community leaders gave House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,D-Calif., a standing ovation for her support of the bill, which passed the House earlier this year but failed in the Senate. Pelosi has appointed Taylor to a conference committee that will work on compromise legislation.

Pelosi later told the Sun Herald that, while she is determined to work for wind coverage as part of the National Flood Insurance Program, a compromise might be necessary for a more limited pilot program. She said that U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., who led Senate opposition to wind coverage in the NFIP bill, has indicated he wants to find a solution.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland, Majority Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina and eight other congressmen and women accompanied Taylor and Pelosi to the meeting after their Katrina recovery tour of New Orleans and a brief stop in Waveland. More than 300 people were in the audience.

During the meeting, Rep. Steve Israel of Long Island, N.Y., said lobbyists and PACs will be “swarming” the conference committee, but they’ll find Taylor a tough opponent.

Taylor once again organized a panel of homeowners who shared personal horror stories. They said State Farm and Allstate adjusters initially concluded tornados had destroyed their homes and the damage would be covered, but later said their companies were blaming flood and would not pay.

Taylor said the federal government – through FEMA and flood insurance – wound up paying expenses insurance companies should have covered.

Hancock Bank president George Schloegel and builder Greg Smith told congressmen that insurance costs have stifled recovery, particularly construction of affordable homes.

Attorney Judy Guice, who represented policyholders and filed her own lawsuit against State Farm after Katrina, said courts are no place to resolve insurance disputes – and the insurance companies know it. They profit, she said, by holding onto the money of policyholders, 90 percent of whom give up without a fight.

“The legal system is not equipped to deal with thousands of lawsuits that result from a single event involving the basic necessities of life,” she said. “We can’t wait that long.”

She said State Farm is still litigating cases from the 1994 North Ridge earthquake. Pelosi nodded in agreement.