William Tauzin: “let me first pay special thanks and appreciation to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Baker) who has worked tirelessly…”

“let me first pay special thanks and appreciation to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Baker) who has worked tirelessly this week to try to find some rational amendment to this bill that made it somewhat better for those of us who represent districts that are literally so low along the coast of this country, mine included. You can imagine living in coastal Louisiana and most of the Cajuns I represent live there, very poor people in many cases who live and have lived there for centuries almost in that same area, to try to make this a little better. Let me explain the problem that coastal communities face, particularly coastal Louisiana, with a bill like this. First of all, the flood insurance program is kind of special in America. Flood victims are the only ones who are obliged to belong to an insurance program. We do not have an earthquake insurance program. We do not have a fire insurance program for the homes in California that were damaged by these fires. We do not have violence insurance programs for the urban city. What we have is a flood insurance program that we are mandated to join. Unlike the other disasters that strike America, whether it is tornadoes, earthquakes or other fire disasters out West, when those disasters come, this Congress, this government, responds fully to assist those victims through FEMA.…”