Washington, D.C. – Congressman Steve Pearce released the following statement after voting against a House Amendment to Senate Amendment to H.R. 2266, the Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Requirements Act. This amendment allows the federal government to borrow money to provide additional funds for emergency relief while bailing out the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP):
"Around the nation, individuals and families are working to recover and rebuild from disastrous hurricanes, and thousands more continue to be impacted by devastating wildfires in California. Congress has the responsibility to aid in the recovery by providing emergency disaster funding – no one can disagree with this charge or with the need. If the amendment simply ensured the communities hardest hit have the money needed to recover, I would have easily supported it, as I did a couple weeks ago for the last emergency aid funding bill. However, yesterday's action was an attempt to play politics with emergency relief funds and ignore billions of dollars in federal debt.
After each hurricane season, the NFIP continues to dive deeper into debt with no foreseeable avenue to solvency. Following both Katrina and Sandy, the federal government was forced to expand the NFIP's borrowing authority by billions. Superstorm Sandy increased the authority by $9 billion alone. Reverting to debt forgiveness now is not the solution, fundamental changes to the program are the only option.
Instead of doing our job and reforming the program to an effective system that actually supports the American families who use it, Congress opted to forgive $16 billion of the NFIP's debt. Bailing out NFIP without asking for vital changes only does a disservice to those families who rely on it in the worst of circumstances. To truly support our friends, families, and neighbors impacted by natural disaster we should ensure the insurance programs we have in place will actually work for them. Not just bail the program out and turn a blind eye."
Background
This Amendment provides the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with $18.7 billion, $577 million for wildfire relief, $16 billion to bailout NFIP, and $1.3 billion for Disaster Nutrition Assistance to Puerto Rico.
On September 6, 2017, Rep. Pearce voted to pass emergency aid funding for the communities affected by Hurricane Harvey and, at the time, for the potential impacts of Hurricane Irma. On September 8, 2017, Rep. Pearce voted against the spending package that irresponsibly tacked on an extension of the debt limit and a Continuing Resolution to provide disaster relief funds for Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.