HYDE-SMITH VOTES TO EXTEND NATIONAL FLOOD INSURANCE PROGRAM

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) today voted to beat the midnight expiration of the National Flood Insurance Program, sending a four-month extension to President Trump.

The Senate voted 86-12 to extend the NFIP through Nov. 30, 2018.  The measure (S.1182) passed the House last week.  It does not include any reforms to the system.

“Many Mississippians rely on the National Flood Insurance Program.  It won’t lapse for now, but Congress needs to act on long-term reauthorization legislation with commonsense reforms that will, among other things, improve flood insurance and address the waste, abuse and mismanagement plaguing the system,” Hyde-Smith said.

“We should also put in place mechanisms to put private insurers on equal footing with the NFIP in order to promote competition and give consumers greater choice,” she said.

Hyde-Smith has cosponsored the Flood Insurance Market Parity and Modernization Act (S.563), which would revive a private flood insurance market by allowing states to develop rules and guidelines for private flood insurers to underwrite flood insurance policies for homeowners and small business accounts.

Hyde-Smith discussed NFIP reform in a recent column titled, “Mississippians Need a Reformed, Solvent Flood Insurance Program.” 

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