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Floor Speech

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Mr. CASSIDY. Madam President, we just had an election 2 weeks ago. I am not here to lord it over anyone, to gloat or anything else, but it is an important observation that Americans let their voices be heard overwhelmingly to go in another direction, and they voted for Republicans, but they also voted against the status quo.

Americans in Louisiana feel that their government is not serving them the way it should. They are struggling to afford trips to the grocery store, their energy bills, and to afford flood insurance.

For over 50 years, Americans have relied on the National Flood Insurance Program, or the NFIP, to be a safety net in case of disaster. NFIP covers 4.7 million homes across the country, including families like those in LaPlace, LA, pictured here.

For those who are watching on television, there are a bunch of homes, and they are surrounded by water. You can tell where the street is because the water is in the street. Fortunately, there is a little bit of green around most homes, but you can tell that that community is flooded.

For many, flood insurance is the only option to have protection against something like this, but the program is not serving Americans the way it should. Skyrocketing insurance premiums caused by FEMA's new risk assessment program, Risk Rating 2.0, has left many people in Louisiana and many families around the Nation with no way to protect their home. Risk Rating 2.0 makes flood insurance unaffordable and puts the entire program at financial risk.

Now, despite Congress never approving Risk Rating 2.0, it unfairly jacks up rates, driving people to drop their coverage. Let me repeat that. Despite Congress never approving Risk Rating 2.0, this program by NFIP is jacking up rates, forcing people to drop their coverage.

I hear the story from folks in Louisiana constantly, and that is what motivated me and my team to release a detailed report breaking down the current state of NFIP, how it reached this point, and what Congress can do to make flood insurance affordable again. What we found confirmed what people in Louisiana and Americans across the country already know: The National Flood Insurance Program is broken.

Now, by the way, this is 19 pages. It is not 600 pages of legalese. It is not something that you read to cure your insomnia. It is 19 pages that a Senator, that a staff person, that someone watching can download and read, and, with 19 pages, you can understand the complex program and understand why it is failing the people it is intended to serve. We did this with the goal that we would help get a program that is affordable, accountable, and sustainable as opposed to the program that FEMA has created, one that is unaffordable and going bankrupt as it forces Americans to drop unaffordable coverage.

After storms like Hurricane Helene--which, by the way, showed us that flooding is not just a coastal issue; it is also occurring inland in river systems--we should listen to the American people when they say they are not OK with the status quo.

So let's take a look at some of the things in the report. And I warn you, it is not good news.

First, we found that the average flood insurance cost in every State rose following Risk Rating 2.0. That was true for 80 percent of people in Louisiana, who saw a spike in their insurance premiums in the first year.

Second, NFIP premiums in Louisiana increased by 234 percent, resulting in 52,000 people in Louisiana dropping their policies last year alone. That is 52,000 Louisiana homeowners dropping their policies because it was no longer affordable in just 1 year. I represent Louisiana, but it is not just Louisiana in which this is an issue; nearly half a million Americans nationwide have dropped their coverage.

Third, FEMA itself now predicts that up to 1 million policyholders nationwide could lose flood insurance coverage in the next decade. They admit that their pricing is going to devastate the ability of Americans to afford this program. That said, FEMA still refuses to be transparent in terms of how they are calculating premiums, and this lack of transparency with Risk Rating 2.0 leaves policyholders in the dark.

This is the reason that we pushed to delay the program's implementation when it was first announced. President Trump did delay it. In 2019, my office worked with the Trump administration to delay Risk Rating 2.0 because of this lack of transparency in how FEMA was calculating rates, but when the Biden administration took over, they allowed Risk Rating 2.0 to move forward even though concerns were never addressed. The end result: Homeowners have high premiums, no explanation, and--I repeat once more--52,000 people in Louisiana dropping coverage, 500,000 people nationwide.

A fourth key finding was, as we investigated NFIP and the lawsuits against Risk Rating 2.0 continued, it became clear that FEMA never had the authority to implement Risk Rating 2.0 without congressional approval. Again--I repeated it earlier; I will repeat it again--FEMA never had the authority to implement Risk Rating 2.0 without congressional approval. They never consulted Congress, and we never passed it. They went around Congress, and their explanation, I think, is flimsy. It is like when you catch your child doing something they know they shouldn't be doing. Risk Rating 2.0 did not even adhere to the proper procedure for rulemaking in the executive branch. Risk Rating 2.0 runs counter to what Congress intended, and FEMA had no right to do what they did.

So these are the four key findings of the report:

One, premiums rose in every State; two, they rose astronomically in places like Louisiana; three, up to 1 million policyholders will drop their coverage because they can no longer afford it; and fourth, FEMA sidestepped Congress to implement this without authority.

These findings reflect why the American people overwhelmingly voted for change. The status quo is unacceptable.

The NFIP is in desperate need of reform, and it has needed this reform for years. Now Republicans have an opportunity to finally listen to the American people on this issue.

Now, being too afraid to touch certain political issues may serve politicians well, but it sets the American people back. Enough is enough. NFIP affects every State.

On this chart, you will see States in dark yellow. They have been hit by flooding the most. California, as the Presiding Officer can see right there, through the gulf coast, up the Atlantic, including a State like Pennsylvania which is just tippy-tip on the Atlantic, and an inland State like Missouri--all these have had more than $1 billion in NFIP claims since 1978. The 44 States other than these have had over $50 million in total NFIP claims. This is a national issue.

So the message to my colleagues who represent States that rely upon the NFIP is, let's find a way forward. We know what the next steps must be. Congress must pass a comprehensive NFIP reform package that protects families from excessive premium hikes, strengthens mitigation efforts--mitigation: decreasing your risk of flooding--and simplifies the claims process by cutting redtape.

FEMA must--absolutely must--reevaluate its pricing methodology and focus on affordability, just as Congress originally intended. FEMA must roll back Risk Rating 2.0, and we must ensure that FEMA does not go rogue, doing things without congressional approval. We also must demand that Congress listen to the feedback from State and local stakeholders.

I have a plan to make flood insurance affordable again for all Americans. I am encouraging my colleagues to join. Let's end the status quo.

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