Washed Out to Sea

Senator Tom Coburn details just how beachfront communities, D.C. lobbyists, and Members of Congress have teamed up to "save" beaches with federally funded sand -- an effort that always results in additional requests for sand projects in the future. While bridges and levies collapse, Congress is earmarking funds to replenish beaches, subsidizing risky flood insurance, and bailing out homeowners who chose to build their houses on sand. These efforts, ironically, have had the unintended effect of inviting more people to develop and live in flood-prone coastal areas, thus creating and sustaining a vicious cycle of development and dependency.