Implode-o-Meter News - Congress Votes To Lavishly Subsidize Flood Hazard In "Real US States" While Giving Puerto Rico a Lump of Coal

The House approved the debt forgiveness in a 353-69 vote on Thursday. As The Intercept previously reported, the bill cancels two-thirds of the flood program's debt while offering Puerto Rico a $5 billion loan from the U.S. Treasury--a baffling move considering the small island is already at least $74 billion in the red to a number of mostly foreign creditors who aren't about to give up their investments without a fight.
The difference? Puerto Rico is effectively a colony of the United States. The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) happens to help a lot of millionaires.

For that reason, the NFIP has historically been a rare spot of cross-aisle agreement, with loyalties divided more along geographic lines than partisan ones. Because homeowners living in floodplains are required to purchase flood insurance, the politicians who represent coastal constituencies tend to favor keeping rates low in order to keep them happy.

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Congress Votes To Lavishly Subsidize Flood Hazard In "Real US States" While Giving Puerto Rico a Lump of Coal