Last year lawmakers tried to make the National Flood Insurance Program solvent. It is more than $25 billion in debt. But in ending some federal subsidies in the program, rates have started shooting up across the US, especially in Florida which is home to about 40 percent of all the flood policies in the US Senator Bill Nelson says the bill passed by Congress is hurting people back home.“It has dried up the real estate market”, Nelson said.
Nelson and a bipartisan group of lawmakers now want the Federal Emergency Management Agency – or FEMA – to delay the changes.
“We’re in an emergency situation", Nelson said. "This should have been done long before when we did the reopen the government.”
The legislation Nelson is pushing requires FEMA to deliver a cost analysis of the program to Congress, which would effectively delay the rate hike for four years.