The good news, however, may only extend until July when a new deadline may approach once more.
A new flood insurance extension will take the pressure off the program for another four months. The $1.3 trillion federal spending deal will give the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) another reprieve.
This is the fourth temporary extension the NFIP has experienced since September 2017.
Washington lawmakers have now given themselves until July to either create another flood insurance extension or overhaul the NFIP. The alternative would be to allow the country’s flood insurance coverage to laps just in time for hurricane season to begin heating up.
Considering the billions of dollars in damage left behind by last year’s active hurricane season – particularly from Harvey and Irma – Congress is facing considerable pressure. The challenge is to decide what to do with this federal insurance program, and its massive flaws and high debts. Until now, a compromise for the NFIP has yet to be found.
Negotiations regarding the flood insurance extension have made little progress since last September.
Legislation to overhaul the National Flood Insurance Program has deteriorated in the U.S. Senate. Still, the tremendous spending bill also includes a number of increases for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) flood risk mapping funding. The spending on that strategy has been broadened in order to significantly improve flood risk map accuracy.
Flood mitigation projects are also on the receiving end of millions of additional dollars in funding. This spending bill would provide funding for the federal government through until September 2018’s close.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the spending package at the end of last week. Next, it made its way through the U.S. Senate. This wasn’t assured as lawmakers expressed significant criticism regarding the $1.3 trillion in spending. Moreover, they were leery of the rushed, closed-door strategy used for writing the bill.
The NFIP requires congressional reauthorization. Due to the fact that it has experienced only temporary a flood insurance extension time and time again, this reauthorization occurs quite frequently. Since Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, the program has accumulated tens of billions in debt for claims payments. It is in dire need of change, but Congress has yet to achieve that goal.
