Re: National Flood Insurance Program Extension Act of 2023 (H.R. 1392)
Dear Chairman McHenry and Ranking Member Waters:
The American Bankers Association (ABA) welcomes and strongly supports Rep. Warren Davidson’s introduction of H.R. 1392 to reauthorize the National Flood Insurance Program through December 31, 2024. The reauthorization of the NFIP continues to be a high priority issue for the ABA and our members, as stability in the NFIP is essential to ensuring that borrowers in flood prone areas can access the insurance needed to protect their properties and the collateral securing their mortgage loans.
In addition to supporting this legislation to avoid a potential lapse in the NFIP, ABA continues to request Congress to reauthorize the NFIP on a more long-term basis. The ongoing series of short-term extensions of program authority – and the potential for lapses in authority – destabilize the mortgage process. As ABA has stated previously, there is a growing focus by banks and regulators to ensure that physical risks are adequately addressed. The availability of flood insurance, and particularly of the NFIP, is an essential element of those efforts and long-term reauthorization of the program is vital to a coordinated approach to ensuring resiliency of the housing finance system and to the continued ability of low-and moderate-income borrowers to access mortgage credit.
We urge the members of the House Financial Services Committee to advance H.R. 1392 and continue to work on legislation to reauthorize the NFIP on a longer, five-year basis.