Political Quotes

“I would like to say that the chairwoman's manager's amendment does make good improvements to the underlying bill by phasing out taxpayer subsidies for severe repetitive losses. As we know, and as I said in my opening statement, the NFIP is facing serious financial challenges and the program cannot afford to go on its current path. So in this respect, I think that Chairwoman Waters' manager's amendment is a positive step in the right direction. In addition, the manager's amendment includes additional reforms that seeks to reduce the subsidies over time that continue to burden this program. The measure includes several provisions to address local community concerns that we have all heard in our districts resulting from new flood risk maps and the ongoing flood control projects, resulting in delays of purchase requirements and higher rates in certain cases. I would like to point out why I believe that phasing out the subsidies for severe repetitive loss properties is important. If you look at the accounting for these losses over the last several years, the repetitive loss properties only account for 1 percent of the total policies in the program nationwide, yet the repetitive loss properties account for almost 30 percent of the claims paid annually. Well, I think there is a sense of fairness about this, and most of us recognize that this is unfair.”