Craig Fugate, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”), will testify at a U.S. Senate Banking Committee hearing regarding increases to flood insurance premiums under the National Flood Insurance Program (“NFIP”).
Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) said that he will bring Mr. Fugate before the committee, likely on September 18, 2013.
“Earlier this year, FEMA caused panic in many parishes in south Louisiana in part by predicting future flood insurance rates based on incomplete and inaccurate maps, and the man in charge of administering this program needs to explain the challenges resulting from the implementation of Biggert-Waters,” Vitter said. “The flawed flood maps put communities affected under the gun, and the result could be that they will have to bear the cost of FEMA's mistakes for years to come.”
Vitter said he has three requests for Fugate and the Obama administration:
• The President has delayed Obamacare because it's not ready; is FEMA willing to delay Biggert-Waters for at least a year?
• Will FEMA agree to halt releasing new flood insurance rate maps until issues involving their accuracy, such as those raised by parish officials in Louisiana, are worked out?
• Will FEMA join the Louisiana delegation in proposing its own administrative fixes on Biggert-Waters, particularly the affordability issue?
Vitter has been demanding that FEMA rescind its flood maps in Southeast Louisiana until mapping issues are resolved, noting that FEMA currently does not credit non-federal levees when determining flood risk.
Vitter and Sen. Mary L. Landrieu (D-La.) have asked President Obama not to nominate Fugate to be Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security unless and until problems with the NFIP are resolved.
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