Democratic presidential nominee-apparent Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is using the issue of a national catastrophe fund to attack Republican nominee-apparent Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). The Obama campaign criticized Sen. McCain for his opposition to the Homeowners’ Defense Act (H.R. 3355). The debate flared up in Florida.

According to a campaign spokesman, Sen. McCain is opposed to the national catastrophe fund “not because he doesn’t have serious concerns about the cost of insurance in Florida, but because it ignores the need for private insurance reforms to broaden markets and protections against the cherry-picking of individual states.” In addition, the spokesman noted Sen. McCain has won the support of one of the national catastrophe fund’s most ardent supporters, Florida Governor Charlie Crist.

The prime sponsor of H.R. 3355, Rep. Ron Klien (D-Fla.) kicked off the back-and-forth last week during a conference call for reporters set up by the Obama campaign, timed to coincide with a campaign appearance by Sen. McCain in Orlando. Klein blasted Sen. McCain’s proposal to address the issue by reforming the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). “It’s unclear to me how Sen. McCain has come to the realization that FEMA is the answer,” Rep. Klein said, according to the Media General news service. He added that Sen. McCain appears uninformed or is “not speaking honestly” on the issue.

Incidentally, Obama’s direction on NAT-CAT was echoed earlier in the week by Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius (D) during her Keynote address before the opening session of the NAIC 2008 Summer Meeting in San Francisco last week. Gov. Sebelius has been prominently mentioned as a potential Obama vice-presidential running mate.

Obama, Dems Hit McCain On National Cat Fund (National Underwriter 6/6/08)

McCain Accused of Opposing Nat Cat Fund (St. Petersburg FL Times 6/6/08)

June 10, 2008