On the recordJuly 15, 2010
I rise in support of the rule and reluctantly am supporting the underlying bill. I have great sympathy for the work that was done by the Financial Services Committee. I understand what horrible timing it is to deal with the huge losses in housing value, other real estate markets, as well as unemployment and the economic slowdown. We are all reluctant to put any additional pressure on people who are located in harm's way. But I will tell you, having worked on flood insurance reform now for over a decade, there is never a good time to fix this program. The tragedy of Katrina 5 years ago dramatically illustrated both the need for, and the flaws in, our flood insurance program and environmental protections. For generations, local and State governments and, sadly, in some cases, the Federal Government itself has encouraged people to live in harm's way. Over time, this has become a much more expensive proposition while we have accelerated the potential for disastrous floods as we've engineered our rivers, while we've encouraged filling in wetlands that used to be nature's sponges, and we have more people in the areas that are subjected to even worse flooding.
