Sportsmen's Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act of 2013
Floor Speech
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Mr. KEATING. Madam Speaker, I heard the gentleman from Texas say--and I appreciate his intensity--that he believes it is a flawed insurance policy that is government-sponsored. If that is the case, then it should be delayed, and he is willing to shut down the government to do it. I want to talk about something that is a flawed government insurance plan that is scientifically proven to be wrong--no debate about it--and that should be delayed, too.
I have a family in my hometown of Bourne, Massachusetts, who just bought a house. They bought that house for $240,000. They had a $400 bill--the predecessors did--for flood insurance. They were shocked, and I was shocked: that bill has now increased to $44,000 a year. If you take away the value of their home, in about 2 or 3 years, with the payments for flood insurance at that rate, it will be the whole value of their home.
I want to also tell you that it is a government taking, in effect, I think, to have this policy in effect because, if they go to sell that home and if someone has to get a mortgage to buy it, as most people have to do, the value of that home is going to be diminished. Someone is probably going to have to pay cash--maybe pay $100,000 for a $240,000 home. That is government reaching in, taking the value of their nest egg--of all of their life savings of the place they live--away from them.
Now, I said it is scientifically proven. I want to show you. I went to the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. Their coastal study experts there--scientists, engineers--said that what FEMA did in establishing the maps upon which these rates are based is flawed. In fact, they used the Pacific Ocean methodology on the Atlantic Ocean. That is how fundamental the flaws are.
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Mr. KEATING. There is my county in Plymouth, which I represent. By taking this through the appeals process and bringing in the study that I was able to obtain from UMass, they took the whole county of Plymouth in Massachusetts, and it now has this insurance plan delayed.
It shouldn't just be my county in Plymouth that is delayed. FEMA can't do this throughout the whole country, as there is not enough time, but it should not just be my county. It should be all of Massachusetts. It should be the Northeast. It should be all the coastal areas and all the river areas in this country. They should be treated with fairness.
All we need on this is a vote. There are now 182 cosponsors, about a third of them Republicans. Let's get it to the floor. Let's be fair. When we have scientific evidence about a flawed insurance plan, let's make sure we get a vote on it.
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