mr. hecht, you may begin. mr. hecht: thank you so much, chairman brown and ranking member scott and senator cassidy. i want to thank him for his leadership on this issue and many others. my name is michael hecht. i am president and ceo of greater new orleans inc. for the past decade we have let the coalition for sustainable flood insurance, and national alliance of approximately 250 organizations across 35 states. today i will discuss the need to reauthorize nfip, given its benefits to the country, the need to reform the program that has been discussed and particularly giving fema's administration a risk rating of 2.0, its associated impacts. first and foremost, the coalition for sustainable flood insurance absolutely supports a long-term multiyear reauthorization of nfip, to ensure program stability and to minimize the negative impacts across the american economy. as senator scott mentioned, a lapse is something that we cannot allow to happen. this is destabilizing to the national housing market. we know for exam