Harvey plays into partisan divide on national program
R.J. Lehmann, senior fellow at the R Street Institute and a member of the SmarterSafer coalition, said he's not surprised that Harvey's wrath is further entrenching the political divisions over flood insurance. "There's one scenario where Congress sees that we have an NFIP that might soon be $30 billion in debt and says, 'OK, we need some serious reforms,'" he said. "But there's also the scenario where lawmakers don't want to diminish the real pain coming out of this storm and thus don't want to make any changes that might cost anyone more money."
