MILES O'BRIEN: It will
take years to rebuild
from Harvey, of course.

It's too early to know the
full extent of the damage,
but, as we just heard, a vast

majority, about 80 percent,
of homeowners in the areas
underwater in the Houston area

do not have flood insurance.

How to help them is sure
to be a big political fight
back here in Washington.

Lisa Desjardins is here
to explain that and a
little bit about the
flood insurance program,

which is, shall we say,
troubled, to say the least.

LISA DESJARDINS: Right.

Talk about sort of biblical
and strange timing here.

Let's look at a few key points
about this important National
Flood Insurance program.

First of all, this
program expires soon.

It expires September 30.

It is right now, Miles,
$24 billion in debt.

This is the largest
flood insurer by a
lot in this country.

Five million Americans get their
flood insurance through this
federal flood insurance program.

And now Congress has to decide
how to renew it in just 30
days after this disaster.

MILES O'BRIEN: So, what is the
role for Congress right now?

They obviously were
under a deadline anyway.

It seems more urgent
now, doesn't it?

LISA DESJARDINS: That's right.

I think that is exactly right.

I think that there's also a
tricky issue here, in that some
Republicans want to massively

reform this program because of
the debt and deficit it's in,
while some other Republicans

are more concerned about
bringing down premiums
for those in flood
areas, and some Democrats

with them.

Listen to sound bites from a
hearing in June of this year.

REP.

JEB HENSARLING (R), Texas: We
know this is a program that
is 455 billion underwater and

runs an actuarial annual
deficit of $1.4 billion.

It is unsustainable.

REP.

MAXINE WATERS (D),
California: I truly believe
that this reauthorization
can be bipartisan,

but I'm concerned that if you
do not heed my call to work
together on the details of

this package, it will
cause irreparable harm.

LISA DESJARDINS: Hensarling,
the committee chairman, wants
to limit the scope and in

fact have more private insurers,
but others say that's going
to make it unaffordable.

MILES O'BRIEN: I think
we can all agree this
is a broken program.

And we hear these stories
time and again about people
having severe damage,
building, rebuilding,

multiple claims time and
again on the same location.

It sort of sounds like the
definition of insanity.

LISA DESJARDINS: I think
that's the really important
point about this story.

Right now, we know that
flood areas are increasing
on our coastlines.

Also, cities are
becoming more flood-prone
because of development.

Let's look at this map, Miles,
about where the most flood
insurance is; 80 percent of

the National Flood Insurance
Program is in those
states you see in gray.

Those are also the
states with the largest
congressional delegations.

The coastal states and, as you
say, Miles, a key point, we
now know that repetitive losses

from flood damage, that's only
1 percent of those who have
flood insurance, but, Miles,

is 25 to 30 percent of the cost.

We're seeing homes that are
now seeing two, three, times of
flood damage within a 10-year

period.

We just heard from that woman
in P.J.'s piece tonight who
said she's been flooded twice

in two years.

So it's a real problem.

MILES O'BRIEN: So, this is
really a program that encourages
bad practices, building in

the wrong place, doesn't it?

LISA DESJARDINS:
That's the question.

And, of course, there's
some people who say
communities should be here.

How do we support
those communities?

Someone has to pay for it.

But others say, well, the
federal government is taking
this risk and encouraging them,

and that's a problem long-term.

There hasn't been a serious
debate yet about those issues.

MILES O'BRIEN: It is going to
be an awfully busy September
here in Washington, when you

consider all the things on
the plate, including this one.

LISA DESJARDINS: I
think that's right.

And here's the trick, is that
there may not be time to have
the really difficult debates,

as we're saying.

Another issue with this flood
insurance program that lawmakers
haven't tackled yet, the maps

are out of date.

And we also know that the
maps are changing because the
weather patterns are changing.

This is something
they haven't tackled.

They have to deal with this
flood insurance program, along
with, oh, government funding,

which also runs
out September 30.

And they have to try and pass
a budget, and they're going to
try and deal with tax reform.

It's quite a lot.

MILES O'BRIEN: It seems
that the climate and the
weather is changing faster
than the bureaucracy.

I guess that shouldn't come as
too much of a surprise, right?

LISA DESJARDINS: No.

Gridlock seems to have more
power these days than almost
anything in Washington.

MILES O'BRIEN: All right,
Lisa Desjardins, thank you
very much for that update.

We will be tracking
this one very closely.

And you can track all
our coverage of Harvey,
including ways you can help.

That's on our Web
site, PBS.org/NewsHour.