The National Flood Insurance Program, which ran out of funding Feb. 28, has been extended to March 28, the latest in a series of short-term extensions by Congress.

The U.S. Senate approved the NFIP’s extension and President Barack Obama signed it into law late on March 2.

Jim Bunning

The one-month extension had been caught in a political battle since Feb. 25, when the U.S. House of Representatives approved the extension of the NFIP by voice vote.

In the Senate, the $10 billion federal spending bill, which also extends benefits to the unemployed and some federal highway projects, was delayed when Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) balked, saying he could not support a bill that added to the federal deficit. Late March 2, Bunning relented, allowing the bill to go to a vote, where it passed, 78-19.

The NFIP has been in the precarious position of losing its funding before, four times in 2009 alone, but never has Congress allowed the program to expire.

Without funding, the NFIP could not write new policies or renew existing policies for property owners, or pay claims. The delay in the extension also meant “short-term problems” for property owners waiting to close on a property within a Special Flood Hazard Zone, according to a statement from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, issued earlier in the day March 2.

The NAIC said consumers with current NFIP policies were still covered by the federal program, despite its temporary cessation.

NFIP officials could not be reached for immediate comment.

The program is important because standard homeowners insurance policies do not cover flooding. The NFIP, created in 1968, provides coverage for property owners to financially protect themselves from floods associated with hurricanes, overflow of rivers or lakes, rainstorms, mudslides and winter melt. Congress is responsible for the continued funding of the program.