NFIP Extended A Week to Prevent Lapse

The Advocate By: Bryn Stole

Congress pushed back its deadline to deal with the National Flood Insurance Program by at least a week, passing yet another short-term extension of the program late Thursday.

A deadline to avoid a lapse in the federal program, which underwrites most flood insurance coverage in the country and covers a half-million Louisiana homes, had been looming at midnight on Friday. The short-term deal is the eighth temporary extension for the program since it first came up for periodic renewal more than a year ago.

Louisiana Sens. Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy had pushed for a six-month extension of the program, putting off a deadline until the spring and giving new incoming leadership in the House of Representatives time to get to work on a comprehensive overhaul of the program.

Both the House and Senate passed a week-long extension on Thursday evening. The Senate also passed the six-month deal, meaning the House could come back Friday or next week and pass the longer extension as well.

No long-term deal over the beleaguered flood insurance program — which is mired in billions of debt from payouts for past hurricanes — is expected in the coming weeks. But lawmakers will need to strike an agreement on just how long to extend it.

Lawmakers have remained deadlocked for more than a year over long-term reforms to the program. <<Read the Full Article>>