Mel Martinez Stalls National Cat. Fund

His Support Is Just Empty Rhetoric

For Immediate Release: April 15, 2008

TALLAHASSEE - Legislation calling for the creation of a national catastrophe fund is in limbo in the U.S. Senate, despite broad bipartisan support. Who's holding up the train?

Mel Martinez, of course.

After sleeping on the clock as Florida fell into a housing crisis, Martinez now is botching another state priority. While he has a major opportunity to bring positive change to Florida by supporting legislation that drastically reduces insurance costs for homeowners in disaster prone areas, he's failing to act.

The bill, sponsored by Florida Democratic Congressman Ron Klein and Tim Mahoney, passed the House in November, but sits idle in the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. Senator Nelson backs the bill, as do many Democrats and Republicans, including Martinez - at least in theory.

But while Martinez claims he supports it, he has failed to take advantage of the unique position he's in as a member of the Banking Committee. He's done next to nothing to move the legislation. He even claims that there's not enough support for the fund, though the House was able to pass it with a broad bipartisan majority.

"There's just a reticence to a fund that's viewed as helping Florida... Hopefully in a year or so after a study has been under way, we might be able to get better consensus and move it forward, but at this point there's no sense in giving people false hope," Martinez said last month. [Associated Press, 4/14/08]

Credit John McCain for at least being open in his disdain for the catastrophe fund, ridiculously suggesting that FEMA should shoulder the insurance costs associated with disasters.

"Mel Martinez has been pulling the bait-and-switch trick for too long. He can't pretend to sincerely support a national catastrophe fund when he won't work for it and supports a presidential candidate who is vehemently against it," Florida Democratic Party spokesman Alejandro Miyar said.