Gloria Gonzalez reported on Businessinsurance.com that “President Donald Trump signed a $36.5 billion disaster relief bill that will forgive $16 billion in debt owed by the National Flood Insurance Program.
The president signed the bill on Thursday after the U.S. Senate adopted it by an 82-17 vote on Tuesday. The U.S. House of Representatives previously passed the disaster relief bill by a 353-69 vote.
The president advocated in favor of the bill’s passage as hurricanes Harvey and Irma inflicted projected losses of $16 billion on top of the existing $24.6 billion in program debt prior to the recent storms and with the NFIP expected to fully exhaust its financial resources, including its $30.4 billion in borrowing authority, this month.
However, a statement from the White House press secretary on Tuesday reiterated the president’s urging of Congress to adopt reforms to the NFIP ‘to ensure the program’s long-term financial viability’ and noted the president ‘looks forward to working with Congress to achieve that goal’.”