[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 79 (Wednesday, May 30, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H3250-H3252]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
{time} 1920
NATIONAL FLOOD INSURANCE PROGRAM EXTENSION ACT
Mrs. BIGGERT. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and concur in
the Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 5740) to extend the National
Flood Insurance Program, and for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the Senate amendment is as follows:
Senate amendment:
Strike all after the enacting clause and insert the
following:
SECTION 1. EXTENSION OF THE NATIONAL FLOOD INSURANCE PROGRAM.
(a) Program Extension.--Section 1319 of the National Flood
Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4026) is amended by striking
``the earlier of the date of the enactment into law of an Act
that specifically amends the date specified in this section
or May 31, 2012'' and inserting ``July 31, 2012''.
(b) Financing.--Section 1309(a) of the National Flood
Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4016(a)) is amended by
striking ``the earlier of the date of the enactment into law
of an Act that specifically amends the date specified in this
section or May 31, 2012'' and inserting ``July 31, 2012''.
SEC. 2. EXCLUSION OF VACATION HOMES AND SECOND HOMES FROM
RECEIVING SUBSIDIZED PREMIUM RATES.
(a) In General.--Section 1307(a)(2) of the National Flood
Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4014(a)(2)) is amended by
inserting before ``; and'' the following: ``, except that the
Administrator shall not estimate rates under this paragraph
for any residential property which is not the primary
residence of an individual''.
(b) Phase-out of Subsidized Premium Rates.--Section 1308(e)
of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C.
4015(e)) is amended--
(1) by striking ``under this title for any properties
within any single'' and inserting the following: ``under this
title for--
``(1) any properties within any single''; and
(2) by striking the period at the end and inserting the
following: ``; and
``(2) any residential properties which are not the primary
residence of an individual, as described in section
1307(a)(2), shall be increased by 25 percent each year, until
the average risk premium rate for such properties is equal to
the average of the risk premium rates for properties
described under paragraph (1).''.
(c) Effective Date.--The first increase in chargeable risk
premium rates for residential properties which are not the
primary residence of an individual under section 1308(e)(2)
of the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968, as added by this
Act, shall take effect on July 1, 2012, and the chargeable
risk premium rates for such properties shall be increased by
25 percent each year thereafter, as provided in such section
1308(e)(2).
SEC. 3. COMPLIANCE WITH PAYGO.
The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of
complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall
be determined by reference to the latest statement titled
``Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation'' for this Act,
submitted for printing in the Congressional Record by the
Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, provided that such
statement has been submitted prior to the vote on passage.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from
Illinois (Mrs. Biggert) and the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. David
Scott) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Illinois.
General Leave
Mrs. BIGGERT. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks
and to add extraneous material on this bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Illinois?
There was no objection.
Mrs. BIGGERT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Senate amendment to H.R.
5740, the National Flood Insurance Program Extension Act. As my
colleagues know, the NFIP is set to expire on May 31. This program
provides vital flood insurance coverage to homeowners in flood-prone
communities.
Just 2 weeks ago, we passed a 30-day extension, H.R. 5740, to spare
property owners and the housing market from another lapse in the NFIP.
That bill was approved by this Chamber on May 17 by a vote of 402 18.
The Senate has since amended our legislation, extending the
authorization for an additional 30 days, for a total of 60 days, or
until July 31. The Senate amendment also eliminates subsidized rates
for second and vacation homes. According to an unofficial Congressional
Budget Office staff estimate, this provision will generate
approximately $2 billion to $2.5 billion over 10 years.
Although not identical, the Senate's reform provision mirrors section
5 of H.R. 1309, the 5-year flood reform bill that we in the House
passed with overwhelming bipartisan support last July. And if any
technical changes are needed, they can be addressed in any long-term
reform measure that we consider in the coming weeks.
On that note, I am pleased to report that, as part of reaching an
agreement on this extension, Senate leaders have offered their public
and private assurances that they will vote this June on the long-term
flood insurance reform. This agreement is a major breakthrough for
those of us who have been
[[Page H3251]]
pushing for the Senate passage of the long-term bill since the House
completed its work nearly 11 months ago. The Senate Banking Committee
has already approved a bipartisan NFIP proposal, and I remain confident
that the House and Senate can reconcile any differences that remain
between our respective visions for reform.
Mr. Speaker, the NFIP is over $17 billion in debt to taxpayers, and
since 2008 Congress has enacted 16 stopgap measures to keep the program
running. Today's bill can and should be the last short-term extension,
because this program is too important to let lapse and too in debt to
continue without reform. Today's bill not only prevents a lapse, it
brings us closer to a responsible long-term solution. And the sooner we
accomplish this goal, the sooner taxpayers can stop bearing the full
expense and risk of an outdated flood program.
With that, I would urge my colleagues to support the Senate amendment
to H.R. 5740, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, again, it is certainly a
pleasure always to work with the gentlewoman from Illinois on this
issue.
We brought this issue up awhile back, and we were very successful in
getting a 5-year extension, the way this should be dealt with. The
Senate, unfortunately, chose not to immediately pursue that, so we came
back 2 weeks ago and asked for a 30-day extension, to our good graces
and the good grace of the Senate. They doubled that and came back with
a 60-day extension, but yet we still need the 5-year extension, so we
hope that this is a sign of us moving in the right direction. We are
very pleased that the Senate is moving with the House in the right
direction on this very important plan, and this is an important plan.
We are now just 2 days from the start of the hurricane season and, as
a matter of fact, as I was here before 2 weeks ago, I said we needed to
make sure we prepared for the storm before the hurricane is raging and
that we were just a couple of weeks away from the start of the
hurricane season. But we had an early arrival. We had Beryl come in. So
you see how pressing and how urgent this is.
This piece of legislation is perhaps the most important piece of
legislation that we can pass right now of major benefit for the
American people. They will be able to go to sleep tonight to know that
at least for the next 2 months this National Flood Insurance Program
will be in place. And this will be a great sigh of relief, but that
still leaves the heavy lifting to do. We have got the 5-year program
and we have got to do that.
I do want to say thank you and my hat is off to Senator Reid and
Senator Coburn, who came to an agreement. I think it's a good
agreement. It's an agreement that we certainly accept here, too. And
what we understand happened in the Senate was that the Senate
amendment, which was offered in the Senate Banking Committee by Senator
Tim Johnson, was to make sure that those homes that are second homes or
vacation homes would not receive subsidized rates, and we think that's
fair. That's a part of what's in our 5-year plan as well, so that is
very much appreciated there.
As we look forward now, all we have to do now is pass this out now
and move forward in good faith with the Senate to let's move with
dispatch and get the 5-year plan. Now, the reason we need the 5-year
plan is because of the continuity, of the dependability, so that people
will know well in advance exactly that we have this program in place.
If I may, and with just my short time here, in case some of the
people do not know why this 5-year plan is so important, I do want to
state exactly what it does.
First of all, it does, in fact, extend the flood insurance program
for 5 years.
It will also delay, for 5 years, the mandatory purchase requirement
resulting from new flood maps.
The bill certainly requires annual notification to homeowners who are
living in flood zones about the risks to their community. As I noted
last week, a couple of weeks ago, many people move into areas, and they
don't even know that they are in a flood zone, so it's very important
that we will notify people. Our bill, this 5-year program, lets people
know every single year because you have people moving in, you have
people moving out. Every year there will be a notification as to
whether or not they are in a flood zone.
The other important part about this is we have noticed, particularly
in my own home State of Georgia where we had such a devastating flood
in the year 2009, it was the worst flood we had there since we started
taking records of that. As I mentioned, we lost lives. Seven
individuals lost their lives in one county in my district. The
application of flood maps all across this country, in every corner of
this country, our flood maps are outdated.
Well, this bill will make sure that they are dated--so that many of
our constituency who are at the risk of flood damage are at that risk
without any knowledge--by making the flood maps current, by making sure
that information is imparted to individuals who move in and out of
communities every year that they are in a flood zone.
Most importantly, most importantly in these tough economic times,
under our 5-year plan, individuals will be able to purchase their flood
insurance in installments instead of one lump sum. This has caused many
people not to be able to be have the flood insurance, because prior to
this bill, this 5-year plan, as of right now, to get flood insurance,
you have to do it as a lump sum. That's why this 5-year plan is
important, and it's important for the Senate to move so that we can get
this done right away.
But this is good news for the American people. We do have 2 months,
as the hurricane season starts, and I think we have a good agreement
here and good energy to move forward, the House and the Senate
together, and put the 5-year plan in place.
I reserve the balance of my time.
{time} 1930
Mrs. BIGGERT. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from
Ohio (Mr. Stivers), a valued member of the Financial Services
Committee.
Mr. STIVERS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentlelady from
Illinois for yielding me time. I'd like to thank her as chairwoman of
the Subcommittee on Insurance and Housing for the Financial Services
Committee for her incredible bipartisan effort that she led on this
bill, along with Members of the other side, including the gentlelady
from California and the gentleman from Georgia. It's been a true
bipartisan effort. Obviously, that's reflected in the 402 18 vote
coming out of this Chamber in May.
I'm happy that the Senate has finally reached an agreement to move
forward with the multiyear extension of the National Flood Insurance
Program because if we don't have a multiyear extension, what could
happen is it could really cause problems in our housing market. I think
the gentleman from Georgia has really talked about the importance of
continuity and why that's really important for people that live in a
flood plain to be able to know they can sell their house and also know
that somebody can buy a home that happens to be in a flood plain.
I think it is important that we have accurate flood maps. This bill
will ensure that we have much more accurate flood maps that have three
dimensions on them, and that will result in better knowledge of where
the flood plains are and where the risk is.
This bill will help stop the taxpayer-funded bailouts. As you know,
the National Flood Insurance Program owes $17 billion to the taxpayers.
We've got to make sure that it is sustainable into the future.
I think some of the Senate changes are good. The amendment by Senator
Coburn that makes sure that we don't subsidize second and third homes
that happen to be vacation homes makes a lot of sense. It steps up the
premiums 25 percent a year for multiple years until they become
actuarially sound. We need to ultimately move the whole program to an
actuarially sound basis. That's why I'm concerned about some of the
other provisions in the amended Senate language that removed the GAO
study regarding privatization and allowing a chance to look at the
flood insurance program's ability to pay claims over the long term.
[[Page H3252]]
I think it is important that we know the viability of the flood
insurance program. But overall, I think having Senate amendments and a
Senate agreement is a major step forward. I'm excited about continuing
to work together to move this program forward and reauthorize it,
hopefully, for a 5-year term. But this step to agree to Senate
amendments to extend the time for a total of 60 days to get us past
July so that hopefully the Senate will have time in June to bring this
up, I think allows us the time we need to make that happen.
I do think if anybody in this body cares about our housing market or
cares about stopping taxpayer-funded bailouts or wants to make sure
that we have accurate flood maps, they should vote to agree to these
amendments, and I hope all my colleagues will do so.
Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. I only have myself to close.
Mrs. BIGGERT. I have no further requests for time.
Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Again, let me thank the gentlelady from
Illinois (Mrs. Biggert) for her outstanding leadership on this. It's
been a joy to work with her. The American people are certainly
appreciative of her efforts in leading this fight. I also want to thank
Ms. Maxine Waters, who is our subcommittee ranking member; and I also
want to extend congratulations to Senator Harry Reid and Senator Tom
Coburn.
I also want to just say a word for the bipartisan relationships that
have developed on this bill. This is how we move bills forward. This is
how we've got to move the country forward, and this is what the
American people are looking to us to do. This is not a Democratic or a
Republican Congress. It is a Congress of the American people. And the
progress of this flood insurance bill is indicative of that fact.
With that, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mrs. BIGGERT. I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned earlier, this bill is the 17th short-term
extension of the National Flood Insurance Program. Our colleagues in
the Senate have assured us that in June they will take up the version
of a long-term NFIP reauthorization and reform bill, so I am confident
that this will be our last short-term extension.
H.R. 5740, with the Senate amendment, extends the program for an
additional 2 months in order to protect homeowners, communities in
flood-prone areas, and the housing market. Including at least one
reform provision in H.R. 5740--to eliminate subsidized rates for second
and vacation homes--reduces some of the NFIP's risk to taxpayers.
H.R. 5740 also buys the House and Senate 2 more months to finalize a
larger bill to reauthorize the 5 years and reform the National Flood
Insurance Program.
Eleven months ago, over 400 Members of the House from both sides of
the aisle voted for H.R. 1309 to reform this program. Actually, the
reform bill passed out of the Financial Services Committee 54 0. So
this is a real bipartisan effort. The House also has approved the same
5-year NFIP reauthorization and reform bill as part of the Middle Class
Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 in December, and as part of the
Reconciliation Act that was passed a couple of weeks ago.
Again, earlier this month over 400 Members of the House voted for the
first version of H.R. 5740 to ensure that NFIP doesn't lapse. NFIP is
over $17 billion in debt to taxpayers and it cannot continue without
reforms, but shouldn't lapse, particularly at the start of the
hurricane season, which begins this week on June 1.
With that, I urge my colleagues to again support H.R. 5740.
Finally, I would really like to thank Ms. Waters for cosponsoring
this bill as the lead cosponsor and Mr. Scott from Georgia for managing
time for the other side and all other Members on both sides of the
aisle. We've had a really great turnout for the NFIP reform effort.
Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. Will the gentlelady yield?
Mrs. BIGGERT. I yield to the gentleman.
Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia. I misspoke when I referred to Ms. Waters
as the ranking member of the Housing Subcommittee. That honor goes to
the Congressman from Illinois (Mr. Gutierrez). So I just wanted to
correct that. Ms. Waters was the former chairman of the Housing
Subcommittee. All of us worked together in such a way, but I did want
to correct that as Mr. Gutierrez as the ranking member
Mrs. BIGGERT. I thank the gentleman. Both of the Members have been
great in working with this. I know that Ms. Waters has been the ranking
member for the committee in the past and has always worked on the flood
insurance.
I yield back the balance of my time.
Mrs. MILLER of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I once again rise in strong
opposition to the reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance
Program.
With all the challenges our nation faces I have a simple question for
everyone . . . why in the world is the federal government in the flood
insurance business?
The federal government is a bad insurance company. This program which
began issuing policies in the 1970's is now almost $19 billion in debt
with no hope to ever repay that debt because it is not run with sound
actuarial standards.
I opposed this bill a few weeks ago when it passed this House and
while the Senate made improvements by taking away subsidized rates from
second homes, which is a start, but it still provides others with
subsidies while charging premium rates to others, like many in my
district with little risk of ever flooding, to provide that subsidy to
others in more flood prone areas.
I believe strongly that this is a practice best left to the private
sectors or individual states. It is long past time to get the federal
government out of the flood insurance business and I continue to oppose
this bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert) that the House suspend the
rules and concur in the Senate amendment to the bill, H.R. 5740.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the Senate amendment was concurred in.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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