Political Quotes

“Madam President, reserving the right to object, once again, we are asked to extend the flood program without any reforms to protect the taxpayers. Like many Federal programs, the flood program is well-intentioned, but it may very well be the best real-life example of a moral hazard. The program covers about 5 million policyholders and provides over $1 trillion in coverage. We were told that the program is funded through insurance premiums. But charging below the market price on insurance and capping how much these rates can rise inevitably has led to shortfalls. They are out of money. They are always out of money. A 2014 report by the Government Accountability Office found that the flood program collected as much as $17 billion fewer in premiums than the market would have demanded. So when the program inevitably found itself in need of money, it, in theory, ``borrowed'' from the taxpayers--not that the taxpayers had any choice in the matter. As they often are, they were on the hook regardless of whether we want to be or not. Just a few years ago, the flood program owed over $30 billion to the taxpayers. Congress later just canceled that debt. Poof, it is gone. It disappeared. But the flood program has not made any further repayments to the taxpayers and today still owes over $20 billion in debt. So the taxpayers are expected to cough up money whenever the program needs it, but the program doesn't seem to be in a hurry to pay the taxpayers back.…”