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Sen. Chris Dodd has just lost his temper on the U.S. Senate floor over anticipated efforts today by Florida senators and other Gulf Coast lawmakers to tack amendments concerning hurricane protection onto his national flood insurance program bill.
He is agitated about expected efforts by Florida Sens. Bill Nelson, a Democrat, and Mel Martinez, a Republican, and other lawmakers to amend the bill today and Thursday to add wind coverage and even a national catastrophic insurance fund.
“An awful lot of people are going to get hurt, and costs are going to go up!” bellowed Dodd, a Democrat from Connecticut, “because we can’t spend 24 hours here doing one thing – and that is deal with flood insurance!”
Dodd is chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee – which drafted the flood insurance renewal bill.
Nelson and Martinez were to talk to reporters about their plans later today, at a news conference where Florida Gov. Charlie Crist will also be on hand.
But according to Hill sources, Dodd may have had a different target in mind. Those sources said Republicans with energy industry ties are planning to try to amend the bill to allow drilling off Florida and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, ease refinery permitting and take other coal- and oil-friendly measures.
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Posted by Daniel Berger, Atlanta, GA on 05/08 at 10:36 AM
Assuming the Hill sources are telling the truth, I can’t imagine why the Republicans would shoot themselves in the foot like this. Allowing drilling in ANWR is one thing - no one lives there, its potential effect on wildlife is highly disputed as, say, the Alaska pipeline didn’t turn out to be such a catastrophe and the caribou herds actually grew. But allowing it offshore of one of the most populous states, a swing state, a state that everyone moves to, retires to or visits for its beaches and boating - is just plain dumb.