FROM: Charles Symington, SVP Government Affairs; John Prible, VP Federal Government Affairs, Lauren Cialone, Senior Director Federal Government Affairs; and Jen McPhillips, Senior Director, Political Affairs
As many of you know, the NFIP program faces yet another pending expiration on Feb. 28. Also facing expiration at midnight on Feb. 28th are extensions of unemployment insurance, COBRA health care benefits, highway funding, small-business loans and funding for satellite television viewing. The flood program faced expiration four times in 2009, and received four short term extensions.
The Big “I” government affairs team has been working to ensure that the flood program as well as the COBRA benefits do not expire on Sunday, though last night the prospects for an extension hit a major roadblock. After the House of Representatives passed a 30 day extension bill of these expiring programs, the Senate attempted to also pass the legislation via “Unanimous Consent” (UC). Every Senator consented to its passage with one exception, Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY). He objected to the passage of the extensions on the grounds that they were not paid for with leftover stimulus funding. At this time there remains a standoff between virtually the entire Senate and Sen. Bunning.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has indicated that he will be negotiating with Sen. Bunning through the day today on agreeing to the UC. If he cannot change Bunning’s mind by this afternoon, Reid’s plan is to file cloture on the legislation. Filing cloture starts the clock on the 36 hours of “debate” that must occur before the legislation can be voted on. Reid will then send the Senate home for the weekend and he will bring the legislation up for a vote as soon as they return on Tuesday (March 2) morning.
Unfortunately, in this scenario both the flood insurance program and the COBRA benefits (along with the other programs) will expire for approximately 36-48 hours. There remains a sliver of hope that Sen. Bunning will relent and agree to the UC, or that Reid will keep the Senate in town over the weekend to allow cloture to “ripen” for the necessary 36 hrs and then vote on the bill before Sunday night, but at this time we believe these scenarios are somewhat unlikely. We will update you immediately, however, if either of these scenarios occur.
Yesterday afternoon, in anticipation of a potential expiration of the flood program for a short time, FEMA issued a bulletin advising agents and consumers on what to do if the program is allowed to expire. They specifically state that, should the program be allowed to expire, "the program will not be allowed to operate and you are to be guided by Bulletin W-09068, issued October 27, 2009, and titled 'Recommendations/Guidance for Possible NFIP Authority Lapse and Hiatus’. The bulletin can be found here.
We will be in touch with any updates as they occur.
Thanks,
Charles
