Government Affairs

After the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would extend the NFIP through Nov. 30, the timing for consideration of the measure in the U.S. Senate remains uncertain.

Unless Congress acts, the NFIP is scheduled to expire on July 31. Call the offices of your federal legislators to encourage them to reauthorize the program.

The Big “I” and other groups are currently advocating for Congress to extend the NFIP before the program expires on July 31.

Even though both the House and Senate have passed a Farm Bill supportive of crop insurance, the bills significantly differ on several contentious issues.

The Senate version of the Farm Bill is scheduled for a vote before the end of the week. However, disagreement among senators over some provisions of the bill have made it unclear what changes might be made to the bill before the vote.

Yesterday, the “Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018” passed by a 20-1 vote out of a U.S. Senate committee.

The Big “I” and others are currently advocating for Congress to extend the NFIP before the program expires, and to support a long-term reauthorization of a modernized version of the program.

Late last week, the U.S. House of Representatives voted down H.R. 2, “The Agriculture and Nutrition Act,” by a vote of 198-213.

Controversy related to the supplemental nutrition assistance program and other issues, including crop insurance and subsidies for commodities such as sugar, are making it hard to predict how the final vote will turn out.

Last week, the Federal Housing Administration proposed amending the agency’s rules to allow the use of private flood insurance on FHA-backed loans in Special Flood Hazard Areas.