The Senate on Tuesday passed a short-term extension of the federal flood insurance program, sending it to President Trump for his signature hours before an Aug. 1 deadline. The 86-to-12 vote preserves access to flood insurance for U.S. homeowners, but it again punts on reforms to a program that covers more than 5 million households and collects more than $3 billion in premiums yearly. [Federal flood insurance program in limbo on Capitol Hill as Harvey’s toll mounts]Claims in 2017 exceeded $8.7 billion, with more claims from last year’s storms expected to be filed in 2018. The National Flood Insurance Program has more than $20 billion in public debt on its books; an additional $16 billion was canceled last year to avoid a $30 billion ceiling on the program’s borrowing. “We could talk about the reforms that are needed, and I encourage us to get those kind of reforms done,” Scalise said.

Source: Washington Post July 31, 2018 17:10 UTC