UPDATE: Congress passes flood insurance extension, again punting reforms [View all]
Last edited Tue Jul 31, 2018, 02:11 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: Washington Post
The Senate on Tuesday passed a short-term extension of the federal flood insurance program, sending it to President Trump for his signature hours before an Aug. 1 deadline.
The 86-to-12 vote preserves access to flood insurance for U.S. homeowners, but it again punts on reforms to a program that now covers more than 5 million households and collects more than $3 billion in premiums yearly. The bill extends the authorization for the program and its ability to borrow funds through Nov. 30.
Lawmakers have been unable to move forward on changes to the program nearly a year after a string of hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria highlighted the fiscal stress on the program.
Claims in 2017 exceeded $8.7 billion, with more claims from last years storms expected to be filed in 2018. The National Flood Insurance Program has more than $20 billion in public debt on its books; another $16 billion was canceled last year to avoid a $30 billion ceiling on the programs borrowing.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/congress-passes-flood-insurance-extension-again-punting-reforms/2018/07/31/82b72d08-94cb-11e8-a679-b09212fb69c2_story.html
Took them long enough.
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