{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cochran.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ContentRecord_id=9ec046cb-73b6-4761-94f8-6274db5b06d8", "COCHRAN:  FEMA COMMUNICATION WITH PUBLIC VITAL FOR SUCCESS OF NFIP REFORMS", "2014-07-25", "2014", "2014-07", "Republican", "House", "MS", "Thad Cochran", "C000567", "www.cochran.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) this week encouraged the Federal Emergency Management Agency to continuing improving its communication with the public as it works to implement reforms to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).\r\nCochran serves on the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Committee that conducted a hearing Wednesday on implementation of Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act (HFIAA), a law he helped write to ensure the affordability of NFIP insurance rates for homeowners and communities. It was enacted in March.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\r\n\u201cThe long-term success of the National Flood Insurance Program is not only contingent on FEMA\u2019s thoughtful and responsible implementation of reforms, but also whether homeowners, businesses and whole communities understand and trust in these changes,\u201d Cochran said.\r\n\u201cToday\u2019s hearing showed us that there are more questions than answers at this point.\u00a0 I look forward to working with FEMA to ensure that Mississippians who rely on or are subject to flood insurance are engaged in this process as it moves forward,\u201d he said.\r\nHFIAA directs FEMA to produce more accurate flood maps as a part of a comprehensive effort to fine-tune Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act provisions that unintentionally causing flood insurance rates to skyrocket to unaffordable levels along the Mississippi Gulf Coast and other areas around the nation.\r\nAs part of the hearing, Cochran submitted questions to FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate regarding the estimated timeline for FEMA to implement modern calculation methodologies to determine flood risk and create new flood map through the Levee Analysis and Mapping Procedures.\u00a0 The Senator also asked Fugate to explain the agency\u2019s outreach to stakeholders, including academia, the private sector, states and local communities.\r\nFugate updated the subcommittee on the processes his agency is undertaking to implement HFIAA, including stopping the unaffordable flood insurance rates assessed under the Biggert-Waters Act and developing a process to refund premium overpayments to homeowners.\r\nIn addition to requiring the use of modern methodologies, HFIAA also requires FEMA to ensure that local levees and other flood control structures are treated fairly in the mapping and risk calculation processes.\u00a0 It also authorized reimbursement to qualifying homeowners for successful map appeals and established a Flood Insurance Advocate within FEMA to aid and assist policyholders.\r\nOver the years, Cochran has become a Senate leader on flood disaster policy, helping to restore the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina, promoting the flood control infrastructure throughout Mississippi that minimized damage from the Mississippi River flood of 2011, and reforming the way FEMA considers that flood control infrastructure when setting insurance premiums.\r\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cochran.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/news-releases?ContentRecord_id=9ec046cb-73b6-4761-94f8-6274db5b06d8"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.483570085838437, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}