As a key government funding deadline of March 14 fast approaches, Republicans in the Senate are aiming to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), again putting the program’s funding at risk of a lapse.
Absent a legislative remedy seeking a longer reauthorization for the program, lawmakers have instead consistently relied upon smaller scale reauthorizations in shorter tranches. This has, at times, led funding for the program to lapse before lawmakers reauthorize the program retroactively to cover any periodic funding lapses after the fact.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, introduced the reauthorization bill earlier this week as a time crunch is hitting both houses of Congress to pass either a full-fledged spending plan or stopgap spending authorization.
Kennedy has been a vocal proponent of a longer-term NFIP reauthorization. Late last year he introduced a bill seeking to authorize the program well into 2025, but in December it failed to be approved via unanimous consent, preventing it from progressing to the Senate floor. This latest reauthorization bill would extend the program as it currently operates until Sep. 30, 2025.
But according to reporting at Politico, Kennedy and his fellow Louisiana Senat
