Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, lauded tonight’s Senate vote to move forward with debate on the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act, bipartisan legislation introduced in the House and Senate to fix the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

The Senate voted 86-13 on the procedural motion, which would delay increases in flood insurance premiums until the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) puts in place a plan to ensure they are implemented affordably.

“This key vote in the U.S. Senate is a clear indication of the strong, bipartisan support for comprehensive legislation that will fix the problems with the National Flood Insurance Program.

While flood insurance reform was well intended, FEMA’s poor implementation, inaccurate mapping and incomplete data have led to unreasonable and unimaginable increases in premiums. Today the Senate took a major step forward to ensure that not one more family suffers from increased premiums, depressed home prices, or the inability to buy or sell their home. This legislation would ensure FEMA undertakes program changes in a way that will not cause harm, by delaying implementation until it provides Congress the facts on how rate increases will affect homeowners. It will also give us the information we need to go through the program piece-by-piece and fix any outstanding affordability issues.

I hope this vote is an early indication of the strong bipartisan support this legislation enjoys – in both the House and the Senate.”

A vote on final passage could occur as early as the end of this week. The measure will then move to the House of Representatives, where it has 180 cosponsors from both sides of the aisle.

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