The Republicans adopted language in their platform this week calling for a “national disaster insurance policy,” following an earlier vote by the Democratic Party to back a national catastrophe fund.

The plank was added just after Hurricane Gustav stormed through a number of disaster-prone states that had been devastated by Hurricane Katrina three years earlier, and with another storm–Hanna–threatening Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.

However, it is not yet clear exactly what “policy” the Republicans have in mind–although it's more than likely a free-market approach, lobbyists speculated, as opposed to an actual insurance policy.

The fact that the Republican Party nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, has spoken out repeatedly against any move to have the federal government back a national cat fund further complicates the meaning of this latest political development, lobbyists added.

“Americans hit by disaster must never again feel abandoned by their government,” the Republican platform reads. “The Katrina disaster taught a painful lesson: The federal government's system for responding to a natural calamity needs a radical overhaul.”

The party added that “we recognize the need for a natural disaster insurance policy.”

The Democrats threw down the gauntlet in the debate over federal involvement by approving a plank in their own platform a week before the Republicans calling for creation of a federally backed disaster fund.

“We will develop a National Catastrophic Insurance Fund to offer an affordable insurance mechanism for high-risk catastrophes that no single private insurer can cover by itself for fear of bankruptcy,” the Democrats said. “This will allow states and territories to deal comprehensively with the economic dislocation of natural disasters.”

Meanwhile, Sen. McCain, a week before the Democratic convention, voiced opposition to a bill proposing a national risk pool for natural catastrophes, which prompted rebukes from Florida's Democratic members of Congress.

“John McCain needs to explain why he is saying one thing and his party is saying something else. It's clearly not in sync with his position,” Rep. Ron Klein, D-Fla., was quoted as stating in the Miami Herald. “Florida voters will not be satisfied with a mere nod to catastrophe insurance.”

Rep. Klein is co-author of a bill–H.R. 3355, the Homeowners' Defense Act of 2007–to create a national cat fund. It passed the House by a 258-155 margin last November, but is stalled in the Senate amid opposition from Republicans and the reinsurance industry, as well as a presidential veto threat.

The Democrats' nominee, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, has spoken out frequently in support of a national cat fund. The Senate companion bill to H.R. 3355 was introduced by Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.