Crazy shit..

Scalise rejects Hensarling comment that God sending message with floods

By ZACHARY WARMBRODT

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling's suggestion that flooding is God's way of encouraging homeowners to move drew a rebuke Saturday from Rep. Steve Scalise, a member of House GOP leadership.

Hensarling, a Texas Republican who has been pushing legislation that would scale back the government's National Flood Insurance Program, stirred controversy in an interview Thursday on CNBC when he took aim at properties that repeatedly flood.

"At some point, God's telling you to move," Hensarling said. "If all we do is force federal taxpayers to build the same homes in the same fashion, in the same location and expect a different result, we all know that's the classic definition of insanity. ... Maybe we pay for your home once, maybe even pay for it twice, but at some point the taxpayer's got to quit paying and you've got to move."

Scalise, the House majority whip who represents a southern Louisiana district, responded as he continued to recover from a gunshot wound he suffered in June.

"My prayers go out to the people of Texas still recovering from one of America's most devastating storms," Scalise said in a statement. "God doesn't wish ill on people whose homes represent their slice of the American Dream."

The two lawmakers had already been at odds over a proposal from the Financial Services Committee that would restrict flood insurance program premium discounts offered to certain homes when flood maps change. The provision is included in legislation targeting properties that experience multiple losses from flooding.

The controversy around Hensarling's comment could further complicate the path forward on changes he wants to make to the flood insurance program. For months, he has faced opposition from several House Republicans and Democrats. The program is set to expire in December and will likely need Congress to raise its borrowing authority in the coming weeks in the wake of a series of devastating hurricanes this year.

After the CNBC interview, Hensarling released a follow-up statement yesterday saying "helping victims right now is paramount" but Congress must "get serious about fixing the NFIP because in its current form the program is unsustainable and perverse."

The Financial Services Committee's legislation, Hensarling said, would require the flood insurance program to more clearly communicate flood risks, provide funds for mitigation, phase out subsidies for properties that flood over and over again and open the flood insurance market to private market competition that could provide lower-cost options.

"It is a government monopoly that subsidizes people to live in harm’s way," he said. "It actually encourages the building and rebuilding – and rebuilding again – of homes and businesses in flood-prone areas. That is neither smart nor compassionate."

Michael Hecht, who has been organizing the Coalition for Sustainable Flood Insurance as president and CEO of Greater New Orleans Inc., said it was offensive to suggest that God tries to send a signal with major natural disasters.

The group has been pushing back on Hensarling's proposed changes to the flood insurance program.

"The practical reality is that people live near water because it’s where commerce happens," Hecht said. "Rather than perpetuating falsehoods, Chairman Hensarling should be working with the bipartisan coalition of lawmakers and stakeholders to provide real solutions that help flood-prone communities become more resilient.”