The U.S. House by voice vote late today (May 30) approved an extension to the National Flood Insurance Program for 60 days, joining the Senate and giving the program new life just 30 hours before it was slated to expire.
The short-term extension buys time for the program, which covers about 5.6 million property owners in flood-prone areas.
The Senate passed a matching bill last week. President Barack Obama is expected to sign the extension before June 1, when the program would have expired from a lack of funding.
“The U.S. House of Representatives is right to recognize that it is vital to pass a 60-day extension of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) on the eve of hurricane season,” said SmarterSafer.org, a coalition supporting reforms to the NFIP and a long-term extension. The traditional hurricane season begins June 1 and runs through Nov. 30.
“Tropical Storm Beryl has already served as a warning that that further lapses in the program would leave U.S. properties and businesses even more vulnerable to natural disasters,” the coalition said in a statement.
The group, which support environmentally-responsible, fiscally-sound approaches that promote public safety, encouraged Congress to “put its nose to the grindstone and actually pass the structural reforms that are needed to stabilize the flood insurance program.”
The flood insurance program is $18 billion in debt, which has many Republicans suggesting the drop federal coverage and allow the private sector to step in.
“These reforms are needed to ensure that the flood program is able to protect both the people it covers as well as those whose tax dollars finance it,” Smartersafer.org said. “With broad bipartisan support in both the House and Senate, there is no reason why Congress should not pass permanent reform and long-term reauthorization of the NFIP once and for all.”
In a deal cut last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) agreed to allow a bill calling for the five-year extension of the flood insurance program with reforms to reach the U.S. Senate floor in June.
In return, Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), whose state was ravaged in Hurricane Katrina in 2005, dropped his demand that the NFIP bill be added as an amendment to a Food and Drug Administration user fee bill under consideration last week. The stalemate had threatened to kill the program, which the insurance industry has lobbied to extend with reforms.
In July 2011, the House passed House Resolution 1309, a five-year extension of the program, including several reforms supported by the insurance industry. The bill passed with a bipartisan vote of 406-22.
The House also passed a 30-day extension to the NFIP last week.
Despite a letter to Senate leaders from a bipartisan coalition of 41 U.S. Senators supporting H.R. 1309, the bill has not yet been introduced to the full Senate.
The deal between Reid and Vitter means the bill should reach the full Senate during its working sessions in July or August.
By Bob Graham
Posted: May 30, 2012
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