NU Online News Service, Dec. 19, 2:51 p.m.EST
|The National Flood Insurance Program is operating on a temporaryreauthorization that expires Friday as Washington continues toplay winner-take-all politics.
|Industry sources confirm that a so-called “minibus” passed byCongress Friday that contained an extension of the NFIP until May31 was not signed by President Obama.
|Instead, a one-day extension designed to keep the governmentrunning was passed Friday by Congress and signed by the President,and another that keeps the government running until Friday waspassed by Congress and signed by the President Saturday, anindustry lobbyist says.
|This was confirmed through the White House website.
|These same industry sources also say the Senate has apparentlyruled out including the House version of legislation extending theNFIP until Sept. 30, 2016 in any legislation that will be used tohelp pay for a middle class tax cut, an extension of unemploymentbenefits, and stopping a 27 percent cut in payments to doctorsunder Medicare that would go into effect Jan. 1.
|The sources say the Senate wants changes made to the House NFIPlong-term extension legislation, H.R. 1309, the “Flood InsuranceReform Act of 2011.”
|“There are specific concerns with provisions in the House bill,plus provisions that individual senators want included in any finallegislation,” an industry lobbyist says.
|Moreover, “the Office of Management and Budget knows that theCongressional Budget Office calculation that the House bill willreap $4.5 billion in savings over 10 years is dubious,” thelobbyist says.
|He says OMB officials are telling the President that the CBOcalculations are dependent on a certain level of premiums beingpaid, which is not a certainty, and are also pointing out that theprogram is already $18 billion in debt.
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