Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the rule for H.R. 1309, the Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2011. I would like to thank Mr. Sessions for introducing and managing this rule. I would also like to thank Rules Committee Chairman Dreier and the leadership for scheduling floor time. On May 13, the Financial Services Committee favorably reported, as has been said, the Flood Insurance Reform Act by a unanimous vote of 54-0. This bill is important and reflects the hard work and bipartisan support of the Financial Services Committee. It would reauthorize for 5 years the National Flood Insurance Program, the NFIP, and enact a series of reforms designed to improve NFIP's financial stability, reduce the burden on taxpayers, and explore ways to increase private market participation. To improve NFIP's financial stability, the bill phases in actuarially sound rates for policyholders. In doing so, it will help to shore up NFIP and allow it to pay down its $17.75 billion debt to the taxpayer. It also increases the minimum deductibles for properties while at the same time giving homeowners more flexibility on how they can pay for their flood insurance. According to the CBO, the combined effect of these and other changes would be to bring in an additional $4.2 billion of net income to the NFIP over the next 10 years. Perhaps most importantly, H.R.…”