Political Quotes

“It is a critical program for the lives and livelihood of many people around the country. It is a good example of how the Federal Government can step in and help work with local communities to lessen the impact that disasters have on people's lives and property. However, as we look at this reauthorization we must indeed look at the big picture, because the Federal Government can do a much better job of providing the right signals and incentives for individuals, communities, and State governments to act responsibly. Unfortunately, some aspects of our disaster policy on the national level are themselves a disaster, including a dominant structural model for flood plain and flood management that has a serious number of problems. Despite spending over $40 billion in the last 40 years on flood program management to reduce flooding, we have actually seen flood losses increase to an average of $8 billion a year, six times what it was before the program was enacted 40 years ago. Forty percent of the payments go to 2 percent of the property. We have a serious problem of repetitive flood loss.”