Earl Blumenauer: “I rise in favor of this bill, which includes critically important funding for Oregon and the rest of the country. I…”

“I rise in favor of this bill, which includes critically important funding for Oregon and the rest of the country. I especially appreciate funding for prevention measures to reduce the damage done by floods and other natural disasters, and I would like to thank the Chairman and Ranking Member for fully funding the Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2004. The Act, which this House passed overwhelmingly last year, extends the authorization of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and provides new resources to address severe repetitive loss properties. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reports that repetitively flooded properties, which make up just 1 percent of the insured properties, account for 25 percent of NFIP claims dollars. Mitigating these properties will not only keep people out of harm's way, but will also save other flood insurance program policyholders thousands of dollars. Fully funding the program this year would allow us to move more than 1000 families out of harm's way. It will also save the Federal government millions of dollars in money that would otherwise be spent on flood damages and disaster relief. FEMA reports that mitigation and building standards already in place have resulted in over $1 billion annually in reduced flood losses.…”