An issue of rising concern to many Arkansans is the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) flood insurance money grab via the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).
There are currently 14,400 NFIP policyholders statewide, but if FEMA ignores the protection value levees provide, as has been the agency’s trend, there will be roughly half a million in the state of Arkansas required to purchase policies through the NFIP. While property owners behind accredited levees, like those managed by the Saint Francis Levee District, have been paying taxes to maintain these crucial flood-control structures, FEMA officials want to impose a form of double taxation by requiring them to buy flood insurance as if the levees did not exist or had not been properly maintained.
Put simply, this is hogwash! After the Great Flood of 1927, the federal government partnered with landowners along the Mississippi and other rivers to construct the best flood-control system in the world, which facilitated development of an unrivaled multimodal transportation system. Without it, our agriculture and manufacturing bases would be drastically less competitive and our economy far weaker.
FEMA’s actions, left unchecked, will undermine these important levee systems and significantly harm our nation’s economic competitiveness. As the second most senior Republican on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I will use the full force of my seniority and my committee’s legislative and oversight powers to protect our critical infrastructure to ensure America’s strengths are not undermined.
