Hurricane Irma will make landfall this weekend in Florida, following the destruction in Houston left by Hurricane Harvey, and preceding Hurricanes Katia and Jose. Friday, President Trump signed a $15.3 billion aid package for those in Houston, a city of 2.3 million. Initial estimates say the costs could go as high as $190 billion. As clean-up begins, over half a million residents have already applied for federal assistance but only about 17% of Harvey victims had flood insurance. This series of storms could put a tight squeeze on FEMA and the National Flood Insurance Program that is already deep in debt. Steve Ellis, VP for nonpartisan budget watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense, says there are ways to mitigate the costs of the storms – including raising insurance rates and attaching strings to disaster relief. He sits down with Soledad O’Brien for a conversation about the cash-strapped Flood Insurance Program and why he says the government encourages citizens to live in disaster prone regions.
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