R Street Issues Statement on National Flood Insurance Program

WASHINGTON, July 25 -- The R Street Institute issued the following statement by R.J. Lehmann, director of finance, insurance and trade policy:

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The R Street Institute is deeply disappointed by today's 366-52 vote by the U.S. House to extend statutory authorization of the National Flood Insurance Program through Nov. 30. The measure, S. 1182, now moves to the U.S. Senate, where it is expected to be moved under unanimous consent procedures.

While expiration of the NFIP would undoubtedly cause some disruption in real estate markets, the R Street Institute urges senators to reject the measure and not to pass any extension that doesn't include at least some reforms.

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"The NFIP is unsustainable as currently constructed and Congress cannot continue to ignore its problems. Even after Congress moved last year to erase $16 billion of the agency's debt, it still owes taxpayers roughly $20.5 billion. The Congressional Budget Office projects it will lose an average of $1.4 billion every year.

"Over the past 20 years, the NFIP has come up for reauthorization 41 times and 38 times Congress has moved to extend it without adopting any needed reforms. That cycle must end. There are simple, commonsense, bipartisan proposals to fix the issues that ail it: from encouraging the market for private coverage to investing in mapping and mitigation to addressing repetitive loss properties. We cannot afford any more delays. The time for action is now."