DODD, SHELBY LAUD SENATE PASSAGE OF LEGISLATION TO BETTER PROTECT AMERICANS FROM FLOODS

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, today announced that the Senate passed the Flood Insurance Reform and Modernization Act by a vote of 92 to 6.  This legislation reforms and strengthens the National Flood Insurance Program, a critical component in ensuring that families are able to rebuild their homes, businesses and lives after a flood.  The bill puts the program, which is billions of dollars in debt after hurricanes Rita and Katrina in 2005, on stronger financial footing so that it may continue to provide the insurance coverage Americans need to help protect themselves from the catastrophic damage floods can impose.

“Floods can have devastating effects on families and communities across our nation,” said Dodd.  "Americans should have access to affordable insurance in order to protect themselves and their businesses from the danger and destruction of floods.  Senator Shelby and I designed this legislation to make flood insurance available to the people who need it, while protecting the taxpayers who guarantee it.  This measure will help ensure that Americans across the country are able to rebuild their homes, their businesses and their lives after a flood.  I look forward to enacting the strong reforms in this bill as soon as possible.” 

Senator Shelby said, “I believe strongly that the flood program must not only be there for those who need it, but also structured in a way that protects the taxpayers who back it.  I am proud to have worked with Chairman Dodd to produce a bill that addresses many weaknesses in the current program and puts it on more fiscally stable ground going forward.  The Senate overwhelmingly approved this legislation, and I look forward to working with the House and the President before the current authorization expires at the end of the fiscal year.”

Dodd and Shelby co-authored the legislation, which passed unanimously in the Banking Committee on October 17, 2007.

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