Mark Pryor: “today I rise to discuss the National Flood Insurance Program, which is a program we are now trying to reauthorize in the…”

“today I rise to discuss the National Flood Insurance Program, which is a program we are now trying to reauthorize in the Senate. Senators Johnson and Shelby have shepherded this bill through the Banking Committee. I have a ton of respect for both of those Senators and the work of the Banking Committee because they worked very hard to get it to the floor, to get it ready. In fact, it expires on May 31. If for some reason we cannot work out something here in the next couple of days, I sincerely hope we will extend this on at least a short-term basis--for another, say, 30 days--to give us time to work this out. The National Flood Insurance Program is too important to mortgages and commercial real estate, et cetera, to let it lapse. If we cannot work it out, I hope we can get a 30-day extension. I support that effort. We need to reauthorize this legislation, this program, but we need to do it in the right way. Several Senators over the course of the last few months have stated objections to S. 1940. Here are mine. I have listed some of mine in a letter we sent to the chairman and ranking member last month or so--November 15, 2011. We listed several objections and concerns we had with the bill. There were 13 Senators from 9 States who signed this letter going to Senators Johnson and Shelby. Again, we appreciate their efforts, but we have to do this the right way.…”