National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019--Conference Report

Floor Speech

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Mr. KENNEDY. He is whip-smart, he is honest, he is a good guy, and we almost always vote together. I have some problems I would like to point out to the Chamber with respect to the Senator's request for unanimous consent.

No. 1, it is a fact that 98.5 percent of all of the homes insured by the National Flood Insurance Program are not owned by a bunch of rich people; 98.5 percent of those homes are located in counties with a median household income below $100,000; and 62 percent of those homes are located in counties with a median household income below $54,000, which is the national average. So I would respectfully disagree that the purpose and the effect of the NFIP are to help people with their expensive beach homes.

No. 2, if we adopt the motion by my distinguished colleague, the NFIP is dead on Tuesday. Let me say that again. If we do what the distinguished Senator would like us to do, on Tuesday, the 31st, the NFIP expires. The reason is that, even if I agreed with what my colleague wanted to do, we do not have time to pass this bill, get it to the House, and get it to the President in time to keep the program from expiring on July 31--and, by the way, the House has recessed.

No. 3, I agree with my colleague that this program needs to be reformed, and we all, including my distinguished colleague, have been working toward that end. We are not there yet, but we are working hard toward that end.

I slightly disagree with the proposition that we reformed the program in 2010. I think the last time we really, truly reformed the National Flood Insurance Program was never, and it is about time that we do it now.

The final point I would like to make is that the amendment my colleague is asking this house to adopt today is not just about vacation homes costing $2.5 million. I have looked at the bill, and by my reading--and the reading of people a lot smarter than I--this bill would apply to any structure, period, that costs more than $2.5 million. That structure would not be eligible to participate in the NFIP. It would prohibit assisted living centers, it would prohibit dormitories, it would prohibit hotels, it would prohibit apartment buildings from insurance coverage under the National Flood Insurance Program. If you can't get it from the private sector--and, in many cases, you will not be able to; that is why we have the NFIP--you are on your own. It would mean we couldn't have any more low-income housing. Low-income housing projects are required to have flood insurance from HUD. We all know that. They would be barred from insurance coverage under this amendment.

Residents of Louisiana, Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico also know that if one of their communities is not participating in the NFIP, then Federal assistance can't be used in any of those areas.

Finally, this amendment would jeopardize the ability of communities to receive community development block grants for disaster recovery.

Let me say again, the junior Senator from Utah is absolutely correct: We need to reform this program. But we need to keep it alive. It is not going to do anybody any good to let this program expire on Tuesday and scare 5 million-plus Americans half to death. We don't have to do that.

There is an instrument coming to us from the House. It extends this program by 4 months. It passed the House overwhelmingly. The House vote was 366 to 52. I am strongly encouraging the majority leader to bring this extension. All it does is maintain status quo for 4 months to bring this extension to the floor. Let's pass it, and let's keep this program alive.

With all the due respect I can muster, I think the purpose of this amendment is to cause the NFIP to expire, and I just can't live with that. I couldn't sleep tonight if I did.

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