Why It Matters

Congress faces a Dec. 11 deadline to keep the National Flood Insurance Program operating, with nearly 4.5 million policies and more than $1.3 trillion in coverage at stake if lawmakers allow the program's authorization to lapse.

The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) faces an authorization deadline of Dec. 11, with no long-term reauthorization in place. A Congressional Research Service (CRS) report says that if Congress does not act, authority to issue new flood insurance contracts will expire and the program's borrowing limit will fall from $30.425 billion to $1 billion.

The NFIP owes $22.525 billion to the U.S. Treasury, leaving $7.9 billion in borrowing authority. A debt repayment analysis provided to CRS concluded the program "as currently structured" could not fully repay $20.525 billion within 10 years. FEMA borrowed another $2 billion in February 2025.

The Big Picture

The NFIP was established by the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 to provide flood insurance and reduce flood risk through floodplain management standards. The last long-term reauthorization was the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012, which ran through Sept. 30, 2017. Since then, Congress has enacted 36 short-term extensions.

As of Aug. 31, the NFIP had nearly 4.5 million policies providing more than $1.3 trillion in coverage. The program collects about $4.6 billion annually from premiums, fees and surcharges, and more than 22,000 communities participated as of April 8. FEMA's Risk Rating 2.0 is phasing out pre-FIRM subsidies and grandfathered rates, although statutory caps limit annual increases. CRS says FEMA lacks authority to establish an affordability program.

The Technical Mapping Advisory Council estimated that producing a revised Flood Insurance Rate Map would take three to five years but could take 6½ years or longer. The council was disbanded in January 2025 when then-acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman eliminated DHS advisory committees through a department memorandum, despite Congress making the council permanent in statute.

CRS also says FEMA did not purchase reinsurance this year and did not issue catastrophe bonds in 2025 or this year, without explaining the change. Separately, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provided $700 million annually for fiscal 2022 through the current fiscal year for Flood Mitigation Assistance grants.

The Bottom Line

CRS identifies no pending long-term reauthorization legislation. Without congressional action, the NFIP's authority to issue new contracts expires Dec. 11, continuing a cycle of short-term extensions and periodic lapses.

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