Democrats and Republicans, who have agreed on little this year, have found common ground on plans to give private insurers greater access to the $5 billion flood insurance program and to offer more buyouts for homeowners in areas likely to be repeatedly submerged, Bloomberg reports.
“Flood insurance seems to be one of those few areas where Democrats and Republicans see the same problems and, in a lot of instances, see the same solutions,” Rob Moore, a senior policy analyst with the National Resources Defense Council, says.
At issue is the National Flood Insurance Program, which is $25 billion in debt. Congress has until the end of September to reauthorize the federal program. If it doesn’t act the real estate market along coasts and rivers will come to a halt because homeowners need that insurance to qualify for federally-backed mortgages.
In the wake of Hurricane Sandy the program paid out $8.4 billion to help cover the costs of rebuilding.
On Thursday, Republican Congressman Sean Duffy of Wisconsin, chairman of the subcommittee that oversees the program, released draft legislation to overhaul it.
Those changes overlap heavily with changes House Democrats are seeking, according to a document from the Democrats on the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing & Insurance obtained by Bloomberg.
The bipartisan agreement among the House lawmakers covers a range of topics, including expanding the role of private flood insurers, getting the federal program to buy more reinsurance on the private market, and making it easier for homeowners that keep getting flooded to move somewhere else.
“This shows an incredible amount of work,” Roy Wright, the deputy associate administrator at FEMA who oversees the National Flood Insurance Program, says, adding that the odds are good that Democrats and Republicans will eventually reach a deal.
