Political Quotes

“The headlines are pretty clear: ``Hurricanes Bigger and Costlier than Ever Before''; ``2.3 Billion People Affected by Flooding Disasters in 20 Years''; ``Rising Sea Levels Could Cost the U.S. Trillions.'' Yet, somehow, Congress fails to act. I share with you that Mr. Duffy has articulated this problem very well. We are here again for the 40th time. Forty times since 1998 we have passed an extension of the National Flood Insurance Program, but without the needed reforms. Four months have passed since the last vote. We still have nothing to show for it. No one has been a greater advocate for reform than our colleague, Mr. Blumenauer of Oregon. Together, he and I have authored a number of bills that would better prepare Americans for rising floodwaters, as had Mr. Duffy, reforms that would address the fact that fewer than 2 percent of 5 million policies have absorbed more than $80 billion in payments. So, are we here today to talk about reforms? No. We are here to support a program that tells Americans that, if you buy flood insurance from Uncle Sam, no matter how many times your house floods, we will give you money to rebuild it without requiring mitigation; a program that currently makes it more difficult for people to move than to rebuild, that fails to encourage communities to mitigate flood risk, that promotes continued construction in the highest risk areas. Mr.…”