Executive Session

Floor Speech

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Mr. CASSIDY. Mr. President, my motion to instruct conferees to the minibus appropriations bill, H.R. 5895, is a simple 6-month extension of the National Flood Insurance Program, currently set to expire July 31, 2018--in about 2 weeks. The same timeline in this motion was passed by the Senate a few weeks ago by unanimous consent during consideration of the farm bill.

The National Flood Insurance Program insures properties in every State, insuring over 5 million homes and businesses and $1.2 trillion in assets. If the NFIP is not extended, people will not be able to renew or purchase new flood insurance policies, and more people would be without flood insurance during peak hurricane season. This is so to the moment because, given the series of emergency supplemental appropriations bills the Senate has passed, an expiration of the NFIP puts the U.S. taxpayer in the very vulnerable position of funding more uninsured losses in emergency supplemental appropriations legislation.

I thank Senators Crapo and Brown for their work in providing a path forward to a bipartisan long-term reauthorization of the NFIP, which ideally includes commonsense reforms providing for greater investment in flood mitigation, updated flood mapping technology, greater accountability, and consumer choice. However, these discussions will not conclude in the next 2 weeks, prior to the upcoming NFIP expiration deadline.

It is imperative that Congress provide for a 6-month extension of NFIP now, so progress can continue on long-term reauthorization and reform of the NFIP through the Banking Committee.

I urge my colleagues to vote to protect the taxpayer, the homeowner, and to support this motion to instruct.

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