National Flood Insurance Program Extension Act

Mr. Speaker, had I been present for the vote today on the enrollment correction to H.R. 4174, the Foundations for Evidence- Based Policymaking Act of 2017 (Roll no. 483), I would have voted ``aye.''

On concurring in the Senate Amendment to H.R. 4174, the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2017 (Roll no. 484), I would have voted ``aye.''

On S. 3277, the Space Frontier Act of 2018 (Roll no. 485), I would have voted ``no.''

On the House Amendment to S. 3661, the 75th Anniversary of World War II Commemoration Act (Roll no. 486), I would have voted ``aye.''

On concurring in the Senate Amendment to H.R. 2200, the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2018 (Roll no. 487), I would have voted ``aye.''

On S. 1023, the Tropical Forest Conservation Reauthorization Act of 2018 (Roll no. 488), I would have voted ``aye.''

On S. 1158, the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act of 2018 (Roll no. 489), I would have voted ``aye.''

On S. 1580, the Protecting Girls' Access to Education in Vulnerable Settings Act (Roll no. 490), I would have voted ``aye.''

On S. 1862 the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2017, as amended (Roll no.491), I would have voted ``aye.''

On S. 3247, the Women's Entrepreneurship and Economic Empowerment Act of 2018 (Roll no.492), I would have voted ``aye.''

On S. 512, the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act (Roll no. 493), I would have voted ``aye.''

On S. 1934, the Alaska Remote Generator Reliability and Protection Act (Roll no. 494), I would have voted ``no.''

On concurring in the Senate Amendment to H.R. 6287, the 9/11 Memorial Act (Roll no. 495), I would have voted ``aye.''

On S. 3456, a bill to redesignate Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge as the Nathaniel P. Reed Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge, and for other purposes (Roll no. 496), I would have voted ``aye.''

On H.R. 7388, a bill to extend the National Flood Insurance Program, and for other purposes, (Roll call no. 497) I would have voted ``no.''

On the Motion to Fix the Convening Time (Roll call. no 498) I would have voted ``no.''

On H. Con. Res. 148, the enrollment correction to S. 3628, a bill to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program (Roll call. no 499) I would have voted ``aye.''

Additionally, had I been present for the vote on S. 3628, a bill to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program (Roll call. no 500) I would have voted ``aye.''

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 3628) to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, this is an unfortunate day where we are once again extending the National Flood Program for--I don't know how many times we have done this. We have been unable to get to the basic reforms that this program demands.

But, Mr. Speaker, there are 140 million Americans who live in coastal counties, millions of whom depend on this program to protect them from flood risk. Without this program, they cannot buy or sell homes. If their policies lapse because we allow the program to lapse, they will not be able to buy a new policy, and if, God forbid, a storm like Sandy or like the storms that ravaged the Southeast recently, if one of those storms comes along during that lapse, those people will have no coverage. We simply cannot allow our failure to so negatively affect so many millions of Americans.

So, today, we are here to extend the program for another 6 months to give a new Congress time to get to some reasonable bipartisan reforms that will put this program on a solid footing for the future.

I am asking that we pass this bill, this extension. It is not perfect, obviously, but it is better than the alternative, and we need to get this done before this Congress recesses.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I agree with everything the ranking member said except she turned me into an Irishman. It is ``MacArthur'' like the general, not ``McCarthy'' like the majority leader.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Graves), who has been keenly focused on this issue.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to quickly say that I also regret that we are in a situation where we have to once again do a temporary extension, but it is important that we do not let this program lapse.

Whether it is Hurricane Florence, Hurricane Michael, Hurricane Harvey, Irma, Maria, or many other disasters we have had, Mr. Speaker, we have flood victims that are trying to rebuild their homes, that are trying to get their lives back in order, and to not have a flood insurance program that gives them the confidence and security that they can reinvest back in their homes and businesses is a dangerous thing for us to do, especially right now during this Christmas season.

Mr. Speaker, I also want to say, at a 50,000-foot level, we have been myopically focused on flood insurance and only flood insurance policy.

Thinking about the fiscal irresponsibility of continuing to allow this program to run the debt that it has, while completely ignoring the fact, Mr. Speaker, that we have spent $1.5 trillion on 220 disasters since 1980, ignoring the fact that thousands and thousands of lives have been lost as a result of our lack of bringing an offense to the table and actually bringing resilient projects to the table, and just focusing solely on flood insurance, which is a reactive policy, it is fiscally irresponsible.

We need to bring an offense and a defense to the table. This program needs fundamental reform, but we cannot do it just by cutting checks to people every time there is a disaster. We have got to bring the resiliency measures to the table as part of a package deal here.

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be present during roll call vote number 483, 484, 485, 486, 487, 488, 489, 490, 491, 492, 493, 494, 495, 496, 497, 498, 499, and 500 on December 21, 2018, due to a death in my family. Had I been present, I would have voted:

On rollcall vote No. 483, I would have voted yes.

On rollcall vote No. 484, I would have voted yes.

On rollcall vote No. 485, I would have voted no.

On rollcall vote No. 486, I would have voted yes.

On rollcall vote No. 487, I would have voted yes.

On rollcall vote No 488, I would have voted yes.

On rollcall vote No. 489, I would have voted yes.

On rollcall vote No. 490, I would have voted yes.

On rollcall vote No. 491, I would have voted yes.

On rollcall vote No. 492, I would have voted yes.

On rollcall vote No. 493, I would have voted yes.

On rollcall vote No. 494, I would have voted no.

On rollcall vote No. 495, I would have voted yes.

On rollcall vote No. 496, I would have voted yes.

On rollcall vote No. 497, I would have voted no.

On rollcall vote No. 498, I would have voted no.

On rollcall vote No. 499, I would have voted yes.

On rollcall vote No. 500, I would have voted yes.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I, too, rise in support of this legislation, S. 3628, and the gentleman, Tom MacArthur, is absolutely correct. We have to do a short-term reauthorization. And because of the previous vote, some people are a little bit confused, but they do not have to worry.

The previous bill that we voted on was one where Chairman Hensarling was attempting to add some language. That failed. So now we have a clean bill before us with one little correction in it, and I would simply ask for an ``aye'' vote so that we can get on with ensuring we have short-term reauthorization.

And I am pleased to say that we have the support on both sides of the aisle to begin to work on a long-term reauthorization, and I think we are going to have good agreement on that. So I would simply ask for an ``aye'' vote today and get this out of the way so that we can move on.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.