An interim solution on flood insurance policies: An editorial | NOLA ...

The U.S. House of Representatives earlier this year overwhelmingly passed a five-year extension of the National Flood Insurance Program. That's the kind of multi-year measure needed to end a cycle of congressional lapses on this important program.

The Senate, however, appears unlikely to vote soon on a bill to extend the flood program for six years. That has the American people staring at another interruption of the flood program when the current authorization ends Dec. 16.

Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, who said he supports a long-term extension, said that won't likely happen before February. So in the meantime he's urging his colleagues to pass an extension to Sept. 30, 2012, the end of the current fiscal year.

That's a sensible proposal, and Congress should quickly adopt it.

Sen. Vitter said that in 2010 Congress let the program expire four times for a combined 53 days. During those lapses, no new policies could be issued. That delayed house closings in flood-prone areas. The senator said extending the flood program until Sept. 30 would give real estate agents the confidence to schedule closings for months without worries about another flood program interruption.

This is no small matter. The flood insurance program covers about 5.6 million property owners across the nation, including 485,000 in Louisiana, Sen. Vitter said

Unlike many other issues in Congress, the extension of the flood insurance program doesn't appear to be divided along party lines. The House vote in July was 406 to 22 in favor of a five-year extension.

That measure also included financial reforms to make the program more sustainable. The program is $18 billion in debt, mostly due to claims paid for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The House plan would eliminate subsidies to commercial properties, second homes and vacation homes, among others. It also would allow for raising premiums for high-risk properties over a five- to six-year period.

Congress needs to be careful not to raise premiums so quickly and so dramatically that property owners would be unable to get insurance.

But the program clearly needs a long-term extension and more financial stability. Letting it expire again this month would hurt the economy and put people at risk. That shouldn't happen, and that's why quickly adopting Sen. Vitter's proposal to extend the program until September makes sense.

Source: http://www.nola.com/opinions/index.ssf/2011/12/an_interim_solution_on_flood_p.html

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