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The U.S. Senate passed a five-day extension to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) by voice vote this afternoon after lawmakers delayed action Thursday night on the federal omnibus bill which would have extended the NFIP through the fiscal year.
The omnibus bill provides funding to most of the federal government, including the nation’s federal flood insurance program that was set to expire at 11:59 p.m. on March 6. After that, agents and brokers would have no longer been able to write, renew or endorse NFIP policies.
However, lawmakers passed a continuing resolution that will fund the federal government and the NFIP through March 11.
The House of Representatives passed the continuing resolution early on Friday, and the Senate followed with its passage on Friday afternoon by voice vote, said Cliston Brown, director of federal public affairs for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, in an e-mail to Insurance Journal.
“That’s an extra five-day extension to buy the Senate more time to work through their [omnibus] bill,” said John Prible, government affairs spokesperson for the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America.
Discussions over provisions in the omnibus bill came to a halt Thursday night just one vote shy of passage in the Senate, Prible said, although he expects the Senate will ultimately pass the omnibus bill but more time was needed to resolve issues.
“I think the expectation is that the Senate will complete the omnibus bill and will end up passing it,” Prible noted. “They just needed more time than originally thought to get that done.”
Sources: IIABA, PCI