[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 29 (Monday, February 13, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S343-S344]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



            National Flood Insurance Program Risk Rating 2.0

  Mr. CASSIDY. Madam President, the National Flood Insurance Program 
Risk Rating 2.0 has officially been in effect for almost a year, and 
families in Louisiana are feeling the unfolding disaster.
  We are not talking about a storm or a flood, which the National Flood 
Insurance Program is supposed to protect against. We are talking about 
the financial crisis unfolding at kitchen tables. Families cannot 
afford the premium hikes that the NFIP is planning with Risk Rating 
2.0. For some, the premiums have become unaffordable and threaten the 
collapse of the value of their home.
  For now, rate hikes are capped at 18 percent per year, but these 
compound year after year. So for the couple who has lived in their 
house for decades, they are not thinking, OK, it is only 18 percent. 
No, they are thinking it is 18 percent compounded upon 18 percent. And 
they don't have a plan to move: Oh, let's escape from it. This is where 
they have been for decades. Eighteen percent compounds and adds up very 
quickly.
  This is not fiction. These are real stories that I hear from folks in 
Louisiana--great Americans, great Louisianians who love our country--
and they are wondering what in the heck is going on.
  An example is the Bourgeois family, an elderly couple in Raceland. 
They both turned 83 last year. They have owned their home for 56 years. 
It has never been in a flood zone, and it has never flooded. Before 
Risk Rating 2.0, they paid $500 a year in flood insurance premiums. 
After Risk Rating 2.0, they are scheduled to pay, when fully in effect, 
$500 per month--from $500 a year to $500 per month.

[[Page S344]]

  Their full risk premium will reach almost $6,300 in 14 years, but 
their annual payment will double in the fourth year.
  So how many 83-year-old retired couples do you know who can afford an 
extra $5,800 in expenses just like that?
  The holiday season just passed. I am sure the Bourgeois family--we 
have big families in South Louisiana--had their children, 
grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. But I am sure there is extra 
budgeting this year.
  Families should not have to spend holidays budgeting for this kind of 
increase in flood insurance premium when they have never flooded. That 
is the crazy thing about it. They have never flooded, and these are the 
premium increases that they are seeing.
  Now, families across Louisiana and in America's coastal communities--
not just in Louisiana--are finding themselves in a similar situation to 
the Bourgeois'. By the way, Louisiana has been hard hit by hurricanes 
over the last few years: Ida, Delta, Zeta, and Laura. Folks in my State 
are still recovering, and they are responsible for maintaining their 
insurance. But with Risk Rating 2.0, it feels like the Biden 
administration is kicking them when they are trying to get back on 
their feet.
  So it begs the question: Why is the administration allowing Risk 
Rating 2.0 to take effect?
  Congress never required FEMA to implement this. President Biden can 
stop it with a stroke of the pen. He has the power. He should have 
asked FEMA to delay or cancel the implementation of Risk Rating 2.0 or 
to reconsider it altogether.
  Throughout the process, though, FEMA has not only been slow to share 
information with policyholders, they have stonewalled Members of 
Congress. They are not being upfront about the costs to policyholders. 
Homeowners did not get significant information from FEMA until less 
than a month before Risk Rating 2.0 began to be implemented, and now 
many Louisiana policyholders are getting notices in the mail of their 
new risk premiums. Folks in my State, they feel blindsided. The 
Bourgeois family was blindsided when they got a notice that their full 
premium will go from $500 a year to $6,295.
  We are here to serve the American people. And in case folks think, 
no, this is not true, they can look at this property--Four Point Drive, 
Raceland, LA--and they can see that it has never flooded. They can see 
that this is a single family, a main dwelling. They can see that it is 
a modest home; it is not a big mansion. The Bourgeoises are not 
millionaires. And then they can see the premium they have to pay. They 
can see that there are no discounts being applied and that their 
premium eventually grows to that full-risk premium.
  Now, it is not just this family with this; I have a dozen more 
insurance bills from constituents showing massive premium hikes through 
no fault of their own. They are penalized just for living where their 
families have lived for generations. With Risk Rating 2.0, FEMA has put 
them into an impossible situation.
  Now, by the way, families are now choosing to drop out of the program 
because they can't afford the premium. The pool of homeowners is 
becoming smaller, leaving those subject to the mandatory requirement to 
buy insurance worse off. Those who are required to own are now faced 
with the difficult task of coming up with thousands more to pay their 
insurance or lose their mortgage.
  FEMA knows this is going to happen. They know that up to 20 to 25 
percent of those policyholders will drop their policies because they 
cannot afford them. That has the potential to put this into what is 
called an actuarial death spiral, where the risk is placed upon fewer 
and fewer; therefore, premiums go up even greater and greater; 
therefore, more and more have to drop. If the intent is to destroy the 
program, to not help Americans in times of flooding, this policy could 
not be done more effectively.
  There has to be another option. Congress has taken steps to avoid 
major flooding in the future. Louisiana has already received over $680 
million for coastal restoration, flood, and waterway projects from the 
Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. It is already delivering on its 
promises.
  When I was helping to negotiate the bill, I had those Louisiana 
families in mind. What can we do to lower their risk of flooding--
which, by the way, then helps everyone else in our country--to help 
make this Flood Insurance Program more affordable and sustainable?
  Now, the second half of helping these families is ensuring that they 
are not forced to move because of unaffordable flood insurance 
premiums. Flood insurance must always remain affordable and accessible 
to the homeowner, accountable to the taxpayer, and sustainable for the 
future. Only President Biden has the power to change that now, which he 
has the responsibility to do.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Tennessee.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam President, I ask permission to complete my 
remarks prior to the vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.