Vote Alert: Extend a broken and almost-insolvent flood insurance program

Politicians like to talk about eliminating wasteful government programs, but when the opportunity comes along to do it Congress almost always chooses to continue to waste money.

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is an excellent example of government waste. With this program, Americans who live inland subsidize the cost of insurance for those living in flood zones, predominately coastal areas prone to hurricane flooding. When a hurricane rolls through and destroys homes, Uncle Sam picks up the tab — offering cheap insurance at the taxpayers’ expense and incentivizing people to live in these areas without taking proper precautions against flooding. These perverse incentives actually make flooding disasters worse by encouraging over-development as the true cost of flood insurance is hidden.

The NFIP was set to expire at the end of July but Congress voted to reauthorize it without implementing any needed reforms to rescue the program from insolvency, despite pledges from Republican leadership for reform. Already $20.5 billion in debt, this government monopoly on primary flood insurance is a burden on American taxpayers, contributing to the growing $21 trillion national debt and requiring a bailout every few years to keep the program running.

Government should not be involved in an industry that is best left to the private market and taxpayers should not be on the hook to support a program that is proven to lose money year after year.

The House of Representatives voted to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program on July 25, 2018 at 2:11 p.m. in a roll call vote of 366 – 52.

The Senate voted to extend the National Flood Insurance Program on July 31, 2018 at 12:16 p.m., in a roll call vote of 86 - 12.

To see how your elected officials stack up or other votes that compose the Liberty Score, view our full scorecard here.

Conservative position: NO

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U.S. House

Minority party (Democrats) in italics

YEAs  — 366

Abraham

Adams

Aderholt

Aguilar

Allen

Amodei

Arrington

Babin

Bacon

Barletta

Barr

Barragán

Bass

Beatty

Bera

Bergman

Beyer

Bilirakis

Bishop (GA)

Bishop (MI)

Bishop (UT)

Blackburn

Blum

Blunt Rochester

Bonamici

Bost

Boyle, Brendan F.

Brady (PA)

Brady (TX)

Brooks (AL)

Brooks (IN)

Brown (MD)

Brownley (CA)

Buchanan

Bucshon

Burgess

Bustos

Butterfield

Byrne

Calvert

Capuano

Carbajal

Cárdenas

Carson (IN)

Carter (GA)

Carter (TX)

Cartwright

Castor (FL)

Castro (TX)

Chu, Judy

Cicilline

Clark (MA)

Clarke (NY)

Clay

Cleaver

Cloud

Clyburn

Coffman

Cohen

Cole

Collins (GA)

Collins (NY)

Comer

Comstock

Connolly

Cook

Cooper

Correa

Costa

Costello (PA)

Courtney

Crawford

Crist

Crowley

Cuellar

Culberson

Cummings

Curbelo (FL)

Curtis

Davis (CA)

Davis, Danny

Davis, Rodney

DeFazio

DeGette

Delaney

DeLauro

DelBene

Demings

Denham

DeSantis

DeSaulnier

DesJarlais

Deutch

Diaz-Balart

Dingell

Doggett

Donovan

Doyle, Michael F.

Dunn

Emmer

Engel

Eshoo

Espaillat

Estes (KS)

Esty (CT)

Evans

Faso

Ferguson

Fitzpatrick

Fleischmann

Flores

Fortenberry

Foster

Frankel (FL)

Frelinghuysen

Fudge

Gabbard

Gaetz

Gallego

Garamendi

Gianforte

Gibbs

Gomez

Gonzalez (TX)

Goodlatte

Gottheimer

Gowdy

Granger

Graves (GA)

Graves (LA)

Graves (MO)

Green, Al

Green, Gene

Griffith

Grijalva

Guthrie

Gutiérrez

Handel

Harper

Harris

Hartzler

Hastings

Heck

Herrera Beutler

Higgins (LA)

Higgins (NY)

Hill

Himes

Hoyer

Huffman

Huizenga

Hultgren

Hunter

Hurd

Issa

Jackson Lee

Jayapal

Jeffries

Jenkins (KS)

Jenkins (WV)

Johnson (GA)

Johnson (LA)

Johnson (OH)

Johnson, E. B.

Jones

Joyce (OH)

Kaptur

Katko

Keating

Kelly (IL)

Kelly (PA)

Kennedy

Khanna

Kihuen

Kildee

Kilmer

Kind

King (IA)

King (NY)

Kinzinger

Knight

Krishnamoorthi

Kuster (NH)

Kustoff (TN)

LaHood

LaMalfa

Lamb

Lance

Langevin

Larsen (WA)

Larson (CT)

Latta

Lawrence

Lawson (FL)

Lee

Levin

Lewis (GA)

Lewis (MN)

Lieu, Ted

Lipinski

LoBiondo

Loebsack

Lofgren

Long

Love

Lowenthal

Lowey

Lucas

Lujan Grisham, M.

Luján, Ben Ray

Lynch

MacArthur

Maloney, Carolyn B.

Maloney, Sean

Marchant

Marino

Marshall

Mast

Matsui

McCarthy

McCaul

McCollum

McEachin

McGovern

McHenry

McKinley

McMorris Rodgers

McNerney

McSally

Meadows

Meeks

Meng

Mitchell

Moolenaar

Moulton

Mullin

Murphy (FL)

Nadler

Napolitano

Neal

Newhouse

Nolan

Norcross

Norman

Nunes

O'Halleran

O'Rourke

Olson

Palazzo

Pallone

Panetta

Pascrell

Paulsen

Payne

Pearce

Pelosi

Perlmutter

Perry

Peters

Peterson

Pingree

Pittenger

Pocan

Poe (TX)

Poliquin

Polis

Posey

Price (NC)

Quigley

Raskin

Reed

Reichert

Renacci

Rice (NY)

Rice (SC)

Richmond

Roby

Roe (TN)

Rogers (AL)

Rogers (KY)

Rooney, Francis

Rooney, Thomas J.

Ros-Lehtinen

Rosen

Roskam

Rothfus

Rouzer

Roybal-Allard

Ruiz

Ruppersberger

Rush

Russell

Rutherford

Ryan (OH)

Sánchez

Sanford

Sarbanes

Scalise

Schakowsky

Schiff

Schneider

Schrader

Scott (VA)

Scott, Austin

Scott, David

Serrano

Sessions

Sewell (AL)

Shea-Porter

Sherman

Shimkus

Shuster

Sinema

Sires

Smith (NJ)

Smith (WA)

Smucker

Soto

Stefanik

Stewart

Stivers

Suozzi

Swalwell (CA)

Takano

Taylor

Tenney

Thompson (CA)

Thompson (MS)

Thompson (PA)

Thornberry

Tipton

Titus

Tonko

Torres

Trott

Tsongas

Turner

Upton

Valadao

Vargas

Veasey

Vela

Velázquez

Visclosky

Wagner

Walberg

Walden

Walorski

Walters, Mimi

Wasserman Schultz

Waters, Maxine

Watson Coleman

Weber (TX)

Webster (FL)

Welch

Wilson (FL)

Wilson (SC)

Wittman

Womack

Woodall

Yarmuth

Yoder

Yoho

Young (AK)

Young (IA)

Zeldin

NAYs — 52

Amash

Banks (IN)

Barton

Biggs

Blumenauer

Brat

Buck

Budd

Chabot

Cheney

Conaway

Davidson

Duffy

Duncan (SC)

Duncan (TN)

Foxx

Gallagher

Garrett

Gohmert

Gosar

Grothman

Hensarling

Hice, Jody B.

Holding

Hollingsworth

Hudson

Johnson, Sam

Jordan

Kelly (MS)

Labrador

Lamborn

Lesko

Loudermilk

Luetkemeyer

Massie

McClintock

Messer

Mooney (WV)

Palmer

Ratcliffe

Rohrabacher

Rokita

Ross

Royce (CA)

Schweikert

Sensenbrenner

Smith (MO)

Smith (NE)

Walker

Wenstrup

Westerman

Williams

Not Voting — 10

Black

Cramer

Ellison

Hanabusa

Moore

Noem

Simpson

Smith (TX)

Speier

Walz

Minority party (Democrats) in italics

U.S. Senate

YEAs — 86

Alexander (R-TN)

Baldwin (D-WI)

Bennet (D-CO)

Blumenthal (D-CT)

Blunt (R-MO)

Booker (D-NJ)

Boozman (R-AR)

Brown (D-OH)

Burr (R-NC)

Cantwell (D-WA)

Capito (R-WV)

Cardin (D-MD)

Carper (D-DE)

Casey (D-PA)

Cassidy (R-LA)

Collins (R-ME)

Coons (D-DE)

Corker (R-TN)

Cornyn (R-TX)

Cortez Masto (D-NV)

Crapo (R-ID)

Cruz (R-TX)

Daines (R-MT)

Donnelly (D-IN)

Duckworth (D-IL)

Durbin (D-IL)

Ernst (R-IA)

Feinstein (D-CA)

Fischer (R-NE)

Gardner (R-CO)

Gillibrand (D-NY)

Graham (R-SC)

Grassley (R-IA)

Harris (D-CA)

Hassan (D-NH)

Hatch (R-UT)

Heinrich (D-NM)

Heitkamp (D-ND)

Heller (R-NV)

Hirono (D-HI)

Hoeven (R-ND)

Hyde-Smith (R-MS)

Isakson (R-GA)

Jones (D-AL)

Kaine (D-VA)

Kennedy (R-LA)

King (I-ME)

Klobuchar (D-MN)

Leahy (D-VT)

Manchin (D-WV)

Markey (D-MA)

McCaskill (D-MO)

McConnell (R-KY)

Menendez (D-NJ)

Merkley (D-OR)

Moran (R-KS)

Murkowski (R-AK)

Murphy (D-CT)

Murray (D-WA)

Nelson (D-FL)

Perdue (R-GA)

Peters (D-MI)

Portman (R-OH)

Reed (D-RI)

Roberts (R-KS)

Rounds (R-SD)

Rubio (R-FL)

Sanders (I-VT)

Schatz (D-HI)

Schumer (D-NY)

Scott (R-SC)

Shaheen (D-NH)

Smith (D-MN)

Stabenow (D-MI)

Sullivan (R-AK)

Tester (D-MT)

Thune (R-SD)

Tillis (R-NC)

Udall (D-NM)

Van Hollen (D-MD)

Warner (D-VA)

Warren (D-MA)

Whitehouse (D-RI)

Wicker (R-MS)

Wyden (D-OR)

Young (R-IN)

NAYs — 12

Barrasso (R-WY)

Cotton (R-AR)

Enzi (R-WY)

Inhofe (R-OK)

Johnson (R-WI)

Lankford (R-OK)

Lee (R-UT)

Paul (R-KY)

Risch (R-ID)

Sasse (R-NE)

Shelby (R-AL)

Toomey (R-PA)

Not Voting — 2

Flake (R-AZ)

McCain (R-AZ)