Kathy Castor: “I want to thank my colleague from Colorado for yielding me the time. I rise to encourage all of our colleagues to vote…”

“I want to thank my colleague from Colorado for yielding me the time. I rise to encourage all of our colleagues to vote ``no'' on the rule, ``no'' on the previous question, and ``no'' on the underlying bill. {time} 1315 It has been 2 weeks since the Senate passed a bipartisan fix to the exorbitant rise in flood insurance rates across the country, but it has been particularly dismaying that in the past 2 weeks the GOP-controlled House has not taken up the Senate-passed bill or the House version to provide some relief for hardworking families across the country. Because there has been no action, we are asking today that all Members come together to vote ``no'' on the previous question so we can take up the flood insurance fix bill. Many of us have been working in a bipartisan way for much longer than 2 weeks. For many months, we have had bipartisan proposals here in the House, but for some reason the GOP leadership has been resistant to bringing up this bipartisan solution. I have offered an amendment on every piece of legislation passing through the Rules Committee since November for a flood insurance fix, but, again, the Republicans refused to make it in order. So, without any scheduling of a bill yet, we have to resort to going to the previous question. If you take a step back, flood insurance reform was very well- intentioned. The reform bill was passed in 2012, intended to make the flood insurance trust fund solvent.…”