US Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-4th) says that one of the first efforts of the new Congressional season could be the reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance program that is set to expire at the end of this month.
Earlier this week Ratcliffe, told Inside Texas Politics that among the many large-scale statistics brought on by Hurricane Harvey, one of the most sweeping is the number of Texans without flood protection.
"About 80 percent of the people that have been impacted won’t have flood insurance, and so that has long been a problem," Ratcliffe said. "I think the first thing Congress can do is look at the reauthorization of that program."
The National Flood Insurance Program was first implemented by Congress in 1968 and has been modified several times since. However, reform efforts in the past few years have always fallen short. Since Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, the NFIP has been nearly $25 billion in debt.
