Florida Governor Rick Scott was in Washington D.C. Monday to make a personal plea to the President on behalf of Florida homeowners.
“The time is right to partner with the states and governors all across the country,” said President Barack Obama.
Governor Scott hopes President Obama stays true to those words spoken at Monday’s National Governor’s Association meeting.
“There’s a lot of talk in Washington, there’s not enough action,” said Governor Rick Scott, (R) Florida.
Following that meeting, Governor Scott blasted the President for not doing anything about flood insurance rate hikes.
“We’ve been asking the President to use his pen and stop these unreasonable unfair increases,” said Governor Scott.
Governor Scott’s words come a week ahead of a House vote to try and repeal some of the flood insurance reform that led to the increased prices.
“That would be a huge plus for people in Pinellas County,” said Nancy Riley, Smith and Associates Real Estate.
Pinellas Realtor Nancy Riley said the House bill will keep the grandfathered, subsidized rates intact even for those buying a home in a flood zone.
“Unlike the Senate bill, which delays it for a few years, this would actually resolve some issues so people would be more comfortable in buying a home,” added Riley.
The group “Stop FEMA Now” hopes a bill gets passed in the House but said, “we need the bill to get strengthened in the House. Not undermined with amendments that will make the (Senate bill) weaker.”
Opponents like “R Street Institute” said, “less than two years after passing landmark reforms to fix the National Flood Insurance Program, which remains $25 billion in debt to American taxpayers, lawmakers appear poised to gut just about all of those reforms, all to score cheap political points.”
The House will take up its bill later this week. The Senate recently passed a bill to delay controversial flood insurance reform by four years.