Talks on flood insurance overhaul heating up after long stint of inaction on Capitol Hill
Staffers for key senators, including
Those negotiations, which picked up steam over the past week, come after weeks of inaction in the
Aides to Senate Majority Leader
The discussions point toward a potential compromise, though no deal is imminent. Several senators and staffers expressed cautious optimism that they could bridge wide gaps between current proposals.
"We're working on some middle ground. I don't know if we'll succeed," said Kennedy, who co-authored a proposal with New Jersey Democratic Sen.
Sharply different visions of how to reshape the beleaguered National Flood Insurance Program have led to deadlock on
Those payouts -- and mounting aggravation among victims of 2013's Hurricane Sandy and the 2016 Baton Rouge-area flood who've ended up in court over claims -- have put pressure on
Some critics of the program want to substantially hike premiums on homeowners who currently enjoy below-market subsidized policies and deny coverage altogether to so-called "repetitive loss" properties, building that have flooded more than once.
That's prompted concern from lawmakers who represent flood-prone and coastal areas, including
The
But that bill, drawn up largely by retiring
The
"He expressed a desire to see if we could come to some agreement and we talked about it for a while," Menendez told The Advocate this week. "I said, 'I'm ready, I'm not ideologically driven on flood insurance, but it has to be a good enough bill.' Our staffs are working together to see if we can come to a way forward."
Cassidy, who co-authored another flood insurance bill with
Cassidy's office has stressed the need to keep flood insurance premiums affordable for low- and middle-income homeowners in any overhaul.
Kennedy noted that private insurance remains the biggest hurdle for any deal. He and other coastal lawmakers fear that letting private companies compete directly with the NFIP could lead to "cherry-picking," where private companies poach the most lucrative policies and leave the NFIP with the riskiest and most heavily subsidized properties, exacerbating the NFIP's financial woes.
Among the potential compromises on the table is charging adjustment fees or other surcharges on private flood policies to help fund mapping, mitigation work and losses in the federally run program.
Still, it's unclear whether lawmakers can cobble together the votes to pass a full reform through both chambers of
"I want a bill. We've got to face this," Kennedy said. "It's becomes more of a priority as we have more and more natural disasters but, if you can roll it over, that's the path of least resistance when you have other pressing issues."
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