Insurance industry officials are voicing strong support for thelegislation signed into law Sunday by President Obama that raisedthe borrowing authority for the National Flood Insurance Program byone-third.

Those praising Congress for its action include the IndependentInsurance Agents and Brokers of America, the Property CasualtyInsurers Association of America, the National Association of MutualInsurance Companies and the American Insurance Association.

Governors Andrew Cuomo of New York and Chris Christie of NewYork also thanked Congress for its action.

“The IIABA strongly supports raising the NFIP borrowingauthority in order to ensure that NFIP policyholders who had theprudence to purchase protection and have been paying their premiumsreceive the claims payment they are due,” says Charles Symngton,IIABA senior vice president of government affairs.

Symington says some experts estimate that damage from Sandycould generate as many as 139,000 claims, but without an increasein the borrowing authority only about 12,000 of these could havebeen covered from existing funds.

Nat Wienecke, PCI senior vice president federal governmentrelations, adds, “PCI commends Congress for making this importantissue a priority at the start of the Congressional session.”

Tom Santos, AIA vice president for federal affairs, says,“Ensuring that the NFIP is able to pay claims will provide muchneeded help to the victims of Sandy and assist in the recovery ofthe affected communities.”

In his comments, Jimi Grande, NAMIC senior vice president offederal and political affairs, reiterates NAMIC's call for Congressto include the Safe Building Code Incentive Act in the broaderSandy relief package to be considered later this

“As we help the victims of Sandy recover, it's also importantthat Congress consider what can be done to prepare for the nextstorm,” Grande says.

With every dollar of federal spending subject to scrutiny,studies have shown that every dollar of spending on disastermitigation equates to four dollars in savings from reduced losses,Grande says.

“Strong building codes have repeatedly been shown to be the mosteffective and efficient means of reducing losses from storms, andCongress can help encourage their use by including the SafeBuilding Code Incentive Act in the broader Sandy relief package tobe considered later this month.”

In a joint statement, Cuomo and Christie say the congressionalaction was a necessary and critical first step toward deliveringaid to the people of New Jersey and New York.

“While we are pleased with this progress, today was just a downpayment and it is now time to go even further and pass the finaland more complete, clean disaster aid bill,” they add.

This article was originally posted at PropertyCasualty360.com,a sister site of Credit Union Times.