National Flood Insurance Plan Extended One More Month

Congress pushed off further decisions on the National Flood Insurance Plan by including an extension of its expiration date in a continuing resolution, now setting it to expire on Oct. 31.

The House passed the resolution Sept. 25 and the Senate followed Sept. 30 -- in the final hours of the plan's final day, which coincided with the end of the federal fiscal calendar. The change of date was the only modification to the flood plan in this joint resolution.

The Senate hasn't yet moved on a previously passed House bill that would extend the program into next spring. That two-page bill was also just a simple change of the NFIP's date, instead of a detailed rewrite of its often controversial provisions, as has been called for by some critics of the massive program. If the Senate's Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee finds time to consider the House bill amid its busy financial reform calendar, the current version of the legislation would extend the NFIP to March 31.

Insurance industry groups such as the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America support a more long-term approach to re-structuring the plan, but as the expiration grew near, they argued in favor of a plain extension ? for now (BestWire, Sept. 8, 2009).

Continuing resolutions have become the traditional method for Congress to postpone its fiscal budgeting deadline as it works each year to finish a dozen different federal budget bills.