Tuesday, 21 September 2010
National Flood Insurance Program Could Be Included In Budget Bill
According to Insurance News Net, one of the most-closely watched is the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) as many people don’t think it is getting the attention it needs and are afraid it may expire before too long. However, it appears the NFIP may be included with a larger budget bill, such as the homeland security appropriations bill, which may be extended to December.
But if the NFIP is included with a larger bill it has to rely on an unrelated issue to be attended to and Congress will need to do something to keep the program alive until Congress is ready to deal with it as a long-term issue. On Sept. 22nd, the Senate's Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee plans on holding a hearing to discuss the renewal of the flood program.
Lawmakers are anxious to start campaigning for the elections and it is unlikely any other insurance bills will be attended to until next year unless the country is hit by a major disaster or storm.
There aren’t any surprises expected for next years insurance agenda at Capitol Hill, if the Democrats retain the House, the insurance industry will probably be faced with a debate concerning an optional federal charter as the chairman of Financial Services said he would bring the topic up in 2011. However, the debate depends on the outcome of the elections as well as issues that are high on the list of the voters' priorities.
