Despite claims to the contrary, Congress may very well be forced to reopen the debate on the 2012 bill reauthorizing the National Flood Insurance Program.

Indeed, the debate, or behind-the-scene maneuverings, could overshadow the battle over Obamacare that most people anticipate will dominate proceedings when Congress returns to work Sept. 9.

That's because the NFIP rate increases affect states with political clout along the Gulf Coast and the Eastern Seaboard, and, if implemented, could destabilize the housing markets in these states, which include Louisiana and Mississippi as well as New York and New Jersey.

There are no hard numbers available, but Louisiana's congressional delegation, as well as citizen's groups in the state, contend that rates could rise from perhaps $1,000 to $10,000 a year on some properties when reforms are fully implemented.

It could also disrupt business because the law mandates that the full impact of the higher rates are imposed immediately when a property changes hands.

Louisiana politicians are not beyond playing hardball to get their way.

As Congress prepared to leave for its summer recess (and those who cover it considering the interregnum a blessing), PC360 asked various lobbyists associated with the program to contact members of Congress linked with the issue, both pro and con.

The consensus feedback was that key members of Congress had no interest in revisiting the rate increases because they think the program must be put on a path of financial solvency sooner rather than later.

Moreover, during the House floor debate June 5 on a measure that passed delaying some of the rate increases, some members said that under the bill, some rates will go down; that increases were not across the board.

The arcane rules of the House and Senate also make it difficult to enact controversial legislation without broad support amongst a number of constituencies—which a rollback or delay in rate increases does not have.

Additionally, bills imposing the rate increases are scheduled to go out starting in October and the software of companies involved in the Write-Your-Own program has already been rewritten to implement the changes.

The software was changed based on instructions approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in February.

Add to this volatile mix the fact that legislation delaying the increases is confined to provisions where rate increases are not scheduled to go into effect until next October. One passed the House June 5 through an amendment to the Homeland Security appropriations bill; another, contained in the Senate Appropriations Committee Homeland Security appropriations measure, passed the committee July 18. It is now awaiting Senate action.

The most broad-based increases, contained in Sec. 205 of the bill, would not be affected by current legislation.

David Miller, FEMA associate administrator, heard an earful from Louisiana and Mississippi residents about the issue last month, implying that Louisiana and Mississippi will seek to put the pressure on the Obama administration to unilaterally act to delay the increases, and therefore bypass Congress.

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., said at one meeting that he wants President Obama to delay implementation of flood insurance rate increases called for under Biggert-Waters for a year, just as the president delayed implementation of parts of Obamacare, the federal health care reform law going into effect later this year.

Vitter is never one to miss any opportunity to put Louisiana's interests above those of the entire country; he likes his politics raw.

But perhaps the Gulf Coast voter is the primary reason legislation imposing such high rates on a relatively low-income part of the nation was enacted.

The reason is because the 2010 wave election, which elected to the House a number of people clueless about the details of legislation they would be called on to draft and pass, was all about labeling opponents and slogans like “no new taxes,” which sound good but confront reality.

The poster boy for this was Rep. Steven Palazzo, R-Miss. In the wave election, he defeated Democratic Rep. Gene Taylor, whose staff did most of the research and drafting of bills aimed at reauthorizing the NFIP in 2007.

Another key, knowledgeable player forced to the sidelines was Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala.

Shelby was unable to spend much time on legislation so important to his state because the Senate Republican leadership demanded he devote most of his time as ranking minority member of the Senate Banking Committee to delaying, softening and disrupting passage of the Dodd-Frank financial services modernization law, and then later its implementation.

This year, Shelby jumped at the opportunity to bag the whole thing and join the join the Appropriations Committee, another powerful job. He did so despite the fact he was most senior member of the Banking panel, and the most knowledgeable about a whole range of financial issues.

Special Reports /

Louisiana Politicians Ready to Battle Reluctant Congress on NFIP Rate Hikes

Related Stories

Recommended For You