Program Could Arbitrarily Cost Unsuspecting Families in Pennsylvania
Casey Vows to Fight Proposed Requirement
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) sent a letter to Senate leadership calling on them to allow a vote on flood insurance without mandatory insurance requirements.
“While reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program is important so families across the state will know they are protected, we should not arbitrarily penalize residents who have already made significant investments in levees, dams and other flood control infrastructure,” said Senator Casey. “I urge leadership to extend this program without mandatory insurance purchase requirements. I will continue to fight to have it removed. ”
Senator Casey is a cosponsor of the Pryor-Hoeven amendment which strikes Section 107 on mandatory insurance requirements. The mandatory requirement ignores taxpayers’ investments in flood control infrastructure, diminishes local control and unfairly penalizes residents across the state.
Full text of Senator Casey’s letter to Majority Leader Reid is below:
Dear Senator Reid:
I write with concerns about the residual risk provisions included in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) compromise recently negotiated between the Senate and House of Representatives.
These provisions mandate homeowners living behind levees and dams to buy flood insurance. I am concerned about the impact this will have on working families across the Commonwealth. My concern is only heightened by the lack of precise information on the impact of these provisions. In Pennsylvania, FEMA predicts somewhere between 1 and 2 million will be required to purchase insurance. These figures are troublingly imprecise.
Given the impact on millions of Pennsylvanians, I believe these provisions deserve additional consideration. I ask that the residual risk provision be stripped from the bill or that the entire NFIP extension be removed and considered separately.
Sincerely,
Robert P. Casey, Jr.
United States Senator
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