Thad Cochran: “I am sympathetic to the Senator's concerns, that he expressed. As I understand the point he makes, it is that we should…”

“I am sympathetic to the Senator's concerns, that he expressed. As I understand the point he makes, it is that we should not create a situation where a shipbuilder can both get disaster funds from the Federal Government and insurance benefits from hurricane coverage and, thereby, be unjustly enriched by getting money from two different sources for one disaster. The language of the general provision, which the Senator purports to amend with this amendment, prevents a shipbuilder from getting double payment, in effect. The Senator's amendment strikes the provision and the language in the provision which guarantees that. I think there is no disagreement between us as to what the outcome ought to be. What we are trying to do is reduce costs to the U.S. Navy and, thereby, to the U.S. taxpayers for future shipbuilding activity by reimbursing the shipbuilder for damages caused by the hurricane, purely and simply. There is no effort to prevent the shipbuilder from recovering what it is entitled to recover from the insurance companies that had coverage in this situation. But the fact is, you could not get insurance coverage for all of the damages done by the hurricane, only some. The policy defines the obligation. The contract, in effect, between the shipbuilder and the insurance company defines what benefits the shipbuilders are entitled to receive. And these contracts are being honored, some maybe not as generously as the shipbuilder would like.…”