Senate Passes National Flood Insurance Program With Only Days To Spare

Letting the program lapse would mean the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) could not issue new policies, which would prevent homes in flood-prone areas from being sold…

The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday approved another extension for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) through the end of November.

The U.S. Senate needed to act quickly enough to pass it before the expiration deadline of July 31. By passing the extension, Congress will be able to keep the program running through Nov. 30.

This is the program’s seventh short-term extension in recent months. The NFIP is now $36 billion in debt, and while members of Congress want to reform it, they keep running out of time.

The four-month extension means Congress will have to keep looking for a long-term solution, but it will at least ensure homeowners are covered through the end of hurricane season.

Letting the program lapse would mean the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) could not issue new policies, which would prevent homes in flood-prone areas from being sold, because insurance is required by mortgage lenders.

If allowed to expire, FEMA would not have the money to pay the claims of existing policyholders if there’s a major disaster and it has to borrow more than $1 billion.