On the recordNovember 14, 2017
I am proud to rise in support of the rule and the underlying bill, H.R. 2874. Homeowners deserve choice; they deserve competition; and, above all, they need to know the true risk their homes face from floods, the most costly of all natural disasters. I believe the underlying bill allows the freedom to insure against obvious danger that imperils people's homes and their wallets. I am particularly enthusiastic about the inclusion of my bipartisan legislation to facilitate the development of a robust private flood insurance marketplace. After months and even years of negotiations, we have produced legislation that appropriately balances the need for affordable flood insurance with our responsibility to act as faithful stewards of taxpayer dollars. Everyone knows that the National Flood Insurance Program is broken. We should act accordingly. We need to fix it. But before we do that, we must agree to proceed. Less than a month ago, many of us voted to bail out this floundering program, forgiving $16 billion of its debt. But we knew that it would be irresponsible to merely kick the can down the road. This is the opportunity to make things right. I believe we need to proceed with the debate because we need to have a reasonable and responsible conversation about fixing this problem before it gets worse. Americans deserve better than a Big Government insurance monopoly that is unable to pay for the risk it insures.…
