Wildfires, Floods & the NFIP — Are Reforms in the Wind?

The Senate Banking Committee has asked Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy and Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota to look at developing legislation to roll other natural disasters into the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

Kennedy said he was asked to assist by Senate Banking Committee Chairman and South Carolina Republican Tim Scott.  “I just had a talk with Tim Scott,” Kennedy said. “He’s asked Mike Rounds and I to put together some legislation dealing not just with flood, but with all catastrophes.”

He would not give more details and said it’s too early to talk but the idea is to expand the NFIP without using tax subsidies. Kennedy said we want to “try to help victims of fire and wind and hail, catastrophes — and do it without the federal government having to subsidize programs.”

Rounds said the program is terribly broken and needs fixing.

“Congress must do the work on reforming the program and providing long-term certainty to homeowners, financial institutions and other stakeholders,” he said. “With the blessing of the Chairman Scott, Senator Kennedy and I are willing to put in the work to finally get this done.”

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