Rep. Rose Message on Seventh Anniversary of Hurricane Sandy

STATEN ISLAND, New York, Oct. 29 -- Rep. Max Rose, D-New York, issued the following news release:

Congressman Max Rose issued a video message marking the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Sandy making landfall in New York City.

"Today marks seven years since Hurricane Sandy hit New York City," Rose said. "Seven years since our community was devastated not just by a natural disaster, but by shear government incompetence that verged on criminal. We will never get back our neighbors who perished in the storm, nor the time and the money that so many lost in the days and the years following that day--but I refuse to let those who suffered do so in vain."

Rose has made protecting Staten Islanders and South Brooklynites from future storms a top priority and has worked to limit disruption and lower flood insurance costs. Rose's first piece of legislation, which was signed into law by the President, provided an easement which will allow the construction of the East Shore Seawall on Staten Island to help protect from future storms and reduce high flood insurance premiums for his constituents.

Rose continued, "That's why since being sworn in earlier this year, we have worked to make sure that Staten Island and South Brooklyn are prepared for the next storm. The first bill that I passed in Congress was to eliminate all of the bureaucratic tape that was preventing the seawall from being built on the East Shore. By this time next year, the Army Corps of Engineers will have broken ground and they'll be well into construction of the Seawall, well on our way towards finally not just having a resiliency project on Staten Island, but seeing our premiums start to go down regarding flood insurance. I'm bringing all of the parties to the table to try to finally learn from our mistakes of the past, so that we have licensed, quality, and many local workers ready to get to work and get past all of that bureaucracy should another storm hit."

At a committee hearing earlier this year, Rose highlighted the serious issues that followed Hurricane Sandy that are still being dealt with, and pressed officials from FEMA on whether or not there is a list of pre-approved contractors by region to show that FEMA is prepared for future disasters.

Rose concluded, "And I'm fighting to lower premium caps because 18 percent increases every single year is just too much, just unaffordable, especially when you're a hard working member of the working class and the middle class and you've seen your costs rise across the board for everything else, all while your wages have stagnated. So today I, along with all of you, we're going to reflect on the lives that we tragically lost during Sandy, and tomorrow we'll get right back to work in their memory."

Rose has been leading the charge against the Administration's new proposal which would use both public and private sector data to reassess flood risks and insurance premiums for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Rose is also backing a bipartisan proposal that would protect homeowners from steep flood insurance rate hikes by capping annual increases at 9 percent--half of the current cap on premium hikes.

Watch Rose's message HERE (https://twitter.com/RepMaxRose/status/1189170109132226560).