John Culberson: “of all the irresponsible, bad ideas cooked up by the liberal leadership of the House, this has to be the blue ribbon…”

“of all the irresponsible, bad ideas cooked up by the liberal leadership of the House, this has to be the blue ribbon boondoggle champion of bad ideas. This exposes the U.S. Treasury and the American taxpayers to a potential liability of up to $19 trillion of property from Maine to the Gulf Coast States. The flood insurance program is already, as we have heard, about, I believe, $20 billion in debt already, the flood insurance is already underfunded, and yet we are going through this legislation, if it passes, expose the American taxpayers to untold billion dollars worth of liability every year. And this is a public-private partnership. As my friend Randy Neugebauer of Texas pointed out, the insurance companies on the private sector's part are going to collect the premiums and the American taxpayers are going to pay the bill. This is, I believe, one of the most dangerous and fiscally irresponsible pieces of legislation ever brought to the floor of the House probably in history, and certainly sets a blue ribbon record for the liberal leadership of this House. We need to all remember as guardians of the Treasury that the American taxpayers are already facing individually, according to the Government Accountability Office, every living American would have to buy $170,000 worth of Treasury bills today just to pay off the existing liabilities of the Federal Government, both direct and indirect.”