Congress continues to stall updates to floodplain maps

摘要

Congress is closer than ever to reauthorizing the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). But lawmakers are far from meaningfully supporting a well-intentioned program that has become a disaster. Introduced in 1968 to manage development in floodplains, the National Flood Insurance Act was the nations first land-use planning program and affects eligibility for Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) reimbursement. Today the program is $18 billion in debt due to long-outdated subsidies, ineffective remediation requirements, and inaccurate maps. Even with residents and businesses in 21,000 communities in all 50 states paying $3 billion in premiums annually, last year floods caused $8 billion in damages and 113 deaths.