Abraham Amendment to protect public from increased flood insurance rates passes House

WASHINGTON, D.C. – May 4, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — Congressman Ralph Abraham, M.D., R-Alto, passed an amendment to the energy and water development appropriations bill around midnight Friday that defunds the President’s executive order that changed the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard.

If allowed to take effect, the result of the President’s executive order could be higher insurance costs for as many as 40 percent of Americans living in affected flood plains, higher building costs and an increased difficulty in building levees due to unreasonable new standards.

Dr. Abraham authored the amendment to defund the executive order. He led the charge on the House floor to protect the public from increases in their insurance rates by passing his amendment. Other Louisiana representatives joining Dr. Abraham in speaking for the amendment included House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, Rep. Charles Boustany and Rep. Garret Graves.

“The Administration crafted this policy in secret without input on its merits from local officials and stakeholders, those who will have to live with this policy. The Office of Management and Budget predicts that this standard will significantly increase the cost of living and doing business in all areas that are at any risk of flooding.

“This is just another case of the President imposing his climate change politics on hard-working Americans. This new standard will have a real, devastating impact on communities throughout the country,” Dr. Abraham said during his floor speech.

Dr. Abraham has been a leader in Washington in fighting the President’s executive order. In March, Dr. Abraham wrote a letter to the Appropriations Committee asking to defund the executive order.

“The Democrats tipped their hand during the debate last night. Their representative argued this new standard would keep people from living in or near flood plains. Why? Because it will be too expensive for them. The President’s standard is just plain bad for Louisiana,” Dr. Abraham said.

The Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016, passed as amended in the House. The funding guidelines outlined in the bill will take effect in Fiscal Year 2016. It provides $35.4 billion in funding for the annual operations for national defense nuclear weapons activities, the Army Corps of Engineers, various programs under the Department of Energy, and other related agencies.

The bill provides $1.2 billion over last year’s appropriated amount, which represents Congress’ promise to the American people to spend more on improving our infrastructure.

For video on debate on Abraham Amendment, click here for the first minute and click here for the second minute.