About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

GAO-09-420R 1 (2009-02-27)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaanmk0001 and id is 1 raw text is: I GA 0 TM WAccountability * Integrity * Reliability United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548 February 27, 2009 The Honorable Barney Frank Chairman Committee on Financial Services House of Representatives Subject: Information on Proposed Changes to the National Flood Insurance Program Dear Mr. Chairman: The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) was created in 1968 and currently has more than 5.6 million policyholders that are insured for about $1.1 trillion. The program collects about $2.9 billion in annual premiums. As of January 2009, NFIP owed approximately $19.2 billion to the U.S. Treasury, primarily as a result of loans that the program received to pay claims from the 2005 hurricane season.' According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which administers the program, this debt is greater than the sum of all previous losses since the program's inception in 1968. While FEMA officials told us that interest payments are estimated to be lower in 2010, as of October 2008, NFIP owed interest payments of $730 million a year to Treasury and has had to borrow more from the Treasury to make these payments. As a result, it is unlikely that NFIP will ever be able to repay the entire debt. Because of NFIP's financial situation, in 2006 GAO placed the program on the high-risk list. In 2008, GAO issued three reports covering issues directly related to NFIP: * Analysis of a Combined Federal Flood and Wind Insurance Program, GAO-08- 504 (Washington D.C.: Apr. 25, 2008); * FEMA's Rate-Setting Process Warrants Attention, GAO-09-12 (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 31, 2008); and * Options for Addressing the Financial Impact of Subsidized Premium Rates on the National Flood Insurance Program, GAO-09-20 (Washington D.C.: Nov. 14, 2008). NFIP is subject to periodic reauthorization and its current authorization has been extended until March 2009. As Congress considers reauthorization of NFIP and potential reforms to the program, we have been asked us to provide a briefing on (1) the 'The full losses from 2008 are not available. GAO-09-420R Proposed Changes to NFIP

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most