NU Online News Service, Sept. 16, 12:40 p.m.EST

WASHINGTON—The current National Flood Insurance Program will beextended through Nov. 18 by a congressional vote next week,according to industry officials.

NFIP is scheduled to expire Sept. 30.

"While we are disappointed that the Senate has failed to passNFIP reform prior to the September 30th deadline, the shortextension through Nov 18th gives them ample time to pass the reformbill on the Senate floor and to get this through a conference,"says Jimi Grande, senior vice president of federal and politicalaffairs for the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies(NAMIC).

"Our top priority right now is preventing an NFIP lapse," saysBen McKay, senior vice president of federal government relationsfor the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America. "Theprogram is set to expire in exactly two weeks."

Grande says Senate Republicans and Democrats have expressedconfidence they'll be able to complete work on a long-termauthorization of NFIP prior to Nov. 18.

"While we are urging a five-year program reauthorization, wesupport a short-term extension that will provide additional time todiscuss a comprehensive bill," McKay adds.

The extension will be contained in a continuing resolution thathas already been drafted. It is necessary to keep the governmentrunning while Congress continues work on the budget for the fiscalyear that begins Oct. 1.

Grande says reform of the NFIP is long overdue. "We urgeCongress not to miss another opportunity to place the NFIP onsounder financial footing," he says.

Legislation reauthorizing the NFIP until Sept. 30, 2016 wasreported to the Senate floor earlier this month by the Senate BankingCommittee.

The House passed its NFIP-reform bill in July. However, the Houseand Senate NFIP bills contain differences—leading to a stall inefforts for a long-term reauthorization.

NFIP provides flood-insurance coverage to more than 5.6 millionAmericans but, according to the Government Accountability Office,the program is running a $17.8 billion deficit.

Still, industry officials had hoped recent flooding throughoutthe U.S. would lead to some urgency in getting NFIP reauthorized.

"Short-term patches for the NFIP are dangerous for themarketplace," McKay says. "In 2010, flood policies could not bepurchased or renewed for a total of 53 days due to a disjointedpatchwork of short-term flood extensions that led to programlapses."