After Billions in Hurricane Damage, Congress Still Hasn’t Passed Flood Insurance Reform
- Taxpayers remain on the hook as Hurricane Florence bears down
- Reforms stall on program that’s more than $20 billion in debt
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U.S. taxpayers who spent billions of dollars after a trifecta of hurricanes last year are poised to do so again after a fix to the nation’s troubled flood insurance program remains stalled in Congress -- and as a dangerous new storm barrels toward the southern Atlantic coast.
The program, administered through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is the primary source of flood insurance in the U.S., with about 5 million policy holders across the country. But it remains more than $20 billion in debt and some experts say it must be reformed in an era of very powerful storms like Harvey and Irma.