WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) delivered a speech on the U.S. Senate floor highlighting the need for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to remain affordable and the danger that Risk Rating 2.0 poses to low- and middle-income families’ ability to be enrolled in the program.
“With Risk Rating 2.0 driving up costs for low- and middle-income families, about a fifth of those enrolled in NFIP will be forced to drop their coverage altogether over the next ten years,” said Dr. Cassidy.
“If we really want to put Americans first, we start by making NFIP affordable now and keeping it affordable 10, 15 years from now,” continued Dr. Cassidy.
Background
In April, Cassidy delivered a speech on the Senate floor calling for the continuation of FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grant program, which helps fund pre-disaster mitigation and flood prevention projects in Louisiana and nationwide.
In March, Cassidy delivered a floor speech calling for a long-term extension of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and introduced legislation to extend the program through December 31, 2026. Cassidy also met with the Jefferson Business Council where he discussed his efforts to keep flood insurance affordable and extend NFIP long-term.
In February, Cassidy introduced the Flood Insurance Affordability Tax Credit Act to give low- and middle-income households enrolled in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) a 33% refundable tax credit to combat rising flood insurance premiums. Cassidy released a report last fall outlining the current state of the NFIP and the issues that have led to skyrocketing premiums for millions of homeowners.
Last year, the U.S. Senate Banking Committee held a hearing on NFIP at the request of Cassidy. The hearing highlighted the urgent need for Congress to act and featured a Louisiana witness. Cassidy also participated in a roundtable hosted by GNO, Inc. and the Coalition for Sustainable Flood Insurance to hear from community leaders and advocates on the issue.
Cassidy traveled St. Bernard Parish in 2023 to talk with residents about their flood insurance premiums, recording the second episode of his Bill on the Hill series.
Cassidy’s remarks as prepared for delivery are below:
Mr. President,
Folks in Louisiana are preparing for hurricane season.
I just had a meeting with the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury who sent me some photos of a few Lake Charles homes.
To reduce flood risk and their monthly flood insurance premiums, people are paying to have their houses raised.
That costs anywhere between 25,000 and 40,000 dollars.
If your foundation needs repairs, you’re looking at up to 25,000 dollars in additional costs.
A full replacement of the foundation can cost 100,000 dollars.
It seems like a worthwhile investment.
Lifting your home lowers your risk of flooding and insurance premiums go down, saving you money in the long run.
But unfortunately, that is not the experience people in Louisiana are having under Risk Rating 2.0—FEMA’s current risk assessment program.
Here are just two instances in Calcasieu Parish in which homeowners invested in flood mitigation to lower their flood insurance premiums.
These people did everything right!
They did what they were supposed to!
These people are not going to flood. And yet, after Risk Rating 2.0, this is what happened to their premiums!
You’d feel like you got ripped off if that happened to you.
One pre-mitigation premium nearly doubled.
This is bad news for all Americans, particularly lower-income families.
When the number of families getting a bill like this goes up, the number of people able to afford flood insurance at all goes down.
With Risk Rating 2.0 driving up costs for low- and middle-income families, about a fifth of those enrolled in NFIP will be forced to drop their coverage altogether over the next ten years.
The pool of policyholders shrinking at this rate will force the program into what’s called an actuarial death spiral.
Risk Rating 2.0 is like termites eating away at the foundation of a house.
If we do nothing, it’s going to collapse.
I introduced legislation back in February to give low- and middle-income households enrolled in NFIP a 33% reduction in their NFIP premium in the form of a refundable tax credit that would go directly to their premium payment at the time it’s due.
Hurricane season will not wait on those who need flood insurance to get it. Americans in my state and across the country need relief now.
If we really want to put Americans first, we start by making NFIP affordable now and keeping it affordable 10, 15 years from now.
The issue is a pocketbook issue for many families, but when you flood like so many in Louisiana have, it becomes a personal issue—an issue of loss.
Since the start of 2025, at least 21 Americans across 8 states have been killed as a result of flooding and storms hitting their communities.
Millions have been without power or evacuated from their homes.
When you hear “flood insurance” you might think, “Well I don’t live in a coastal state like Louisiana, for example. My house won’t get destroyed by a flood. I don’t need flood insurance!”
I wish that were true.
States hit the hardest aren’t the only states hit.
This is not a one-state problem.
This is a one-nation problem.
All fifty states have NFIP policyholders.
And there are many who don’t have flood insurance who, unfortunately, wish they did.
When more rain comes—and it will—all Americans need stability.
The National Flood Insurance Program can provide that certainty.
Maybe you won’t see flooding as extreme as losing your house—I hope you don’t.
But I’m not just talking about the worst-case scenario.
Let’s say you get a couple of inches of water in your living room.
You’ve got to pull up your carpets and replace the drywall. You’re going to wish you had flood insurance.
And you probably would if it were affordable.
The National Flood Insurance Program, often the only flood insurance option for many communities, is broken.
Right now, the very program designed to help Americans is failing them.
And when millions of Americans are impacted, Washington must act.
Let me be very clear: NFIP is a federal program—meaning we can change and improve it. We just need to have the will.
I urge my colleagues to join me in working with President Trump’s Administration to end Risk Rating 2.0.
In 2019, my office worked with the Trump administration to successfully delay Risk Rating 2.0 because of the lack of transparency on how FEMA was calculating rates.
President Trump understood then and understands now that Americans are tired of being ripped off.
When rivers swell, Americans should not have to fear the cost of rebuilding without insurance.
Let’s make NFIP affordable for the homeowner, accountable to the taxpayer, and sustainable for future generations.
Severe weather is relentless. We must be too.
With that, I yield.
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