Chris Dodd News

Senate Rejects Adding Wind Coverage to Flood Insurance Program, 73-19

The U.S. Senate last week officially rejected a bid by Gulf state senators to add wind coverage to a financially strapped federal program that provides flood insurance. Lawmakers from Louisiana and Mississippi cited problems that occurred after Hurricane Katrina and …

Democrats Accuse Sen. Martinez of Not Pushing Catastrophe Fund Bill

Republican Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida is in a position to help move along a bill that could lower property insurance rates in disaster-prone states, but hasn’t been aggressive enough in doing so, said the two Democratic House members sponsoring …

Insurance Sector Ranks Second in Federal Political Giving

The nation’s lobbyists spent $17 million for every day that Congress was in session, watchdog group says Corporations, industries, labor unions, governments and other interests spent a record $2.79 billion in 2007 to lobby in Washington, the nonpartisan Center for …

Insurance- ‘Green’ Coalition Opposes Expanding Government Catastrophe Bailouts

An unusual alliance of insurance and environmental groups is urging lawmakers to focus on policies that encourage property mitigation and environmental protection in catastrophe-prone areas, rather than expanding the government’s flood insurance or “bailing out” Florida’s catastrophe plan. The coalition, …

Insurance Sector Ranks Second in Federal Political Giving

The nation’s lobbyists spent $17 million for every day that Congress was in session, watchdog group says Corporations, industries, labor unions, governments and other interests spent a record $2.79 billion in 2007 to lobby in Washington, the nonpartisan Center for …

White Papers and Blueprints: Agents Chart Their Own Regulatory Future

Independent agents hold onto market share, prepare for post-November election politics Insurance Journal‘s Editor-in-Chief Andrea Wells interviewed Robert Rusbuldt, CEO and president of the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America (the Big “I”), at the Big “I” Legislative Conference …

Sen. Martinez Denies He’s Obstacle to Catastrophe Fund Bill

Republican Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida is in a position to help move along a bill that could lower property insurance rates in disaster-prone states, but hasn’t been aggressive enough in doing so, said the two Democratic House members sponsoring …

Congress Seeks Review of SEC’s Enforcement Division Staffing, Funding

Congressional investigators have been asked to review whether the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has enough enforcement staff and funding to properly police the markets amid the current credit crisis, Senator Jack Reed said Tuesday. “There has been an almost …

U.S. Sen. Schumer Urges U.K.-Like Single Financial Regulator

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., on Friday called for a rethinking of the U.S. financial regulatory system, perhaps moving toward a single regulator, following the collapse this month of Bear Stearns Cos. In an opinion published in the Wall Street Journal, …

Time to Invest in Infrastructure

U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval in the first quarter of 2008 dismissed a lawsuit against the U.S. Corps of Engineers over levee failures in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Duval ruled the Corps had immunity from the lawsuit, …