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              Congressional
           *.Research Service






National Flood Insurance Program Borrowing

Authority



Updated December 5, 2019
This Insight evaluates the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) borrowing authority to receive loans
from the Treasury and the current financial situation of the NFIP.


NFIP Funding

Funding for the NFIP is primarily maintained in an authorized account called the National Flood
Insurance Fund (NFIF). The NFIP is funded from receipts from the premiums of flood insurance policies,
including fees and surcharges; direct annual appropriations for specific costs of the NFIP (only for flood
mapping); and borrowing from the Treasury when the NFIF's balance has been insufficient to pay the
NFIP's obligations (e.g., insurance claims). Since the end of FY2017, 14 short-term NFIP
reauthorizations have been enacted. Key provisions of the NFIP were extended from September 30 until
December 8, 2017 (P.L. 115-56), extended again until December 22, 2017 (P.L. 115-90), and again until
January 19, 2018 (P.L. 115-96). The NFIP lapsed between January 20 and January 22, 2018, and received
a fourth short-term reauthorization until February 8, 2018 (P.L. 115-120). The NFIP lapsed again for eight
hours during a brief government shutdown on February 9, 2018, and was then reauthorized until March
23, 2018 (P.L. 115-123). The NFIP received a sixth reauthorization until July 31, 2018 (P.L. 115-141), a
seventh until November 30, 2018 (P.L. 115-225), an eighth until December 7, 2018 (P.L. 115-281), a ninth
until December 21, 2018 (P.L. 115-298), a tenth until May 31, 2019 (P.L. 115-396), an eleventh until June
14, 2019 (P.L. 116-19), a twelfth until September 30, 2019 (P.L. 116-20), a thirteenth reauthorization until
November  21, 2019 (P.L. 116-59), and a fourteenth reauthorization until December 20, 2019 (P.L. 116-
69). These extensions did not increase the NFIP's borrowing limit or provide additional funds to the
NFIP.


NFIP Borrowing Authority

The NFIP was not designed to retain funding to cover claims for truly extreme events; instead, the
National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 allows the program to borrow money from the Treasury for such
events. For most of the NFIP's history, the program has generally been able to cover its costs, borrowing
relatively small amounts from the Treasury to pay claims, and then repaying the loans with interest. Table
                                                              Congressional Research Service
                                                                https://crsreports.congress.gov
                                                                                   IN10784

CRS INSIGHT
Prepared for Members and
Committees of Congress

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