Jeb Hensarling: “Our Nation is, tragically, going broke. Our national debt, which has skyrocketed under this President, is clearly, by…”

“Our Nation is, tragically, going broke. Our national debt, which has skyrocketed under this President, is clearly, by any measure, on a dangerous and unsustainable path, a path that, if unaltered, will leave our children with less freedom, fewer opportunities, and a lower standard of living. That is beyond unfair. That is immoral. One reason America is going broke is because of poorly designed and costly government-run insurance programs. The National Flood Insurance Program is one such program. Its chief administrator has already testified that ``the NFIP was, by statute and design, not actuarially sound.'' In fact, the program charges only 70 percent of what its administrators believe they actually need. Perhaps that is why the program is currently $24 billion in the red to taxpayers and has no way to ever repay them. The NFIP is not financially sound because pretty much every policyholder receives taxpayer subsidies. Some get explicit subsidies because the law prohibits the program from charging a full and fair rate based upon their calculated actuarial risk. Others receive implicit subsidies because, according to the GAO, the program uses a faulty model that under-measures flood risk. At the end of the day, the program forces roughly 96 percent of all Americans to subsidize the remaining 4 percent, regardless of income or need.…”