Builders Urge Congress to Support Sensible Flood Insurance Reforms
NAHB President David Pressly testified before the Senate Banking Committee on Feb. 2 in favor of efforts to reform the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) in order to ensure that program's long-term financial stability, yet he also cautioned against legislative proposals that would constitute an overreaction to unusual circumstances stemming from last year's devastating hurricane season. "While a financially stable NFIP is in all of our interests, the steps that Congress takes to achieve this aim have the potential to greatly impact housing affordability and the ability of local communities to exercise control over their growth and development," he said.

In order to help the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the NFIP adapt to changing conditions, NAHB can support adoption of several proposed reforms, such as:

•  Providing FEMA the authority to allow for slightly higher annual premium increases;
•  Increasing coverage limits to better reflect today's home values;
•  Creating more insurance options to allow policyholders greater flexibility and provide additional home owner benefits while advancing  the program's solvency;
• Raising the minimum deductible for paid claims in order to provide a strong incentive for owners to protect their homes; and 
• Updating Flood Insurance Rate maps to eliminate large discrepancies between  what was mapped as the 100-year floodplain decades ago and what the 100-year floodplain is today. 

However, Pressly stipulated that NAHB opposes any effort to statutorily change the 100-year floodplain standard to a 500-year floodplain standard as a way to require more home owners to participate in the NFIP and thereby bolster its finances. Likewise, he said, Congress should NOT consider mandating flood insurance for homeowners who reside behind flood control structures such as dams and levees until FEMA can adequately demonstrate that the benefits of such compulsory coverage outweigh the costs. NAHB's advocacy on this issue is aimed at preventing unnecessary costs for builders and keeping homeownership affordable to as many Americans as possible. For more information, contact Scott Meyer at 1-800-368-5242, x8144.

U.S. Ready to Increase Mexican Cement Imports
Yet to be finalized, an accord announced by the U.S. and Mexico last month to settle a 16-year dispute on anti-dumping duties on Mexican cement imports will help to alleviate shortages of the building material that have been reported in more than 30 states. Under the proposed settlement, which is scheduled to go into effect this spring, the U.S. will reduce duties on Mexican cement from $26 to $3 per ton, and Mexican imports will be permitted to grow to 3 million metric tons annually, up from last year's level of approximately 2 million tons. The accord is structured so that Florida and the Gulf region, areas facing cement shortages, will be able to significantly increase their shipments of Mexican cement. The negotiated framework also provides the flexibility to allow the President to direct an additional 200,000 metric tons of cement to areas hit by natural disasters. And most significantly, after three years, the quotas and duties would be entirely eliminated.

During the past year, NAHB has held several discussions with Commerce Department officials — including Secretary Carlos Gutierrez — urging the Administration to overturn the costly tariffs and outlining how cement shortages have led to construction delays and harmed housing affordability by increasing the cost of building projects. Data was also provided on states and geographic areas that have been most affected by the shortages. Throughout the process, NAHB has been pushing to resolve this dispute in a manner that leads to free trade, and we are pleased that this framework will ultimately lead to this favorable outcome. For more information, contact Jason Lynn at x8307.
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Congress Votes to Repeal Byrd Amendment
Congress last week voted to repeal the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act, an anti-dumping trade law that allows U.S. firms to receive duties from foreign rivals, as part of a larger budget bill (S. 1932) that narrowly passed the House by a 216-214 margin. Commonly known as the “Byrd amendment,” which was enacted into law in 2000 through the efforts of Senator Robert Byrd (D-W. Va.), the measure will be repealed in October 2007. NAHB supports repeal of the Byrd amendment because it encourages domestic industries to file trade cases in the hope that any duties collected will go directly to their corporate coffers instead of into the U.S. Treasury.

The controversial law is linked to the U.S./Canadian softwood lumber dispute. The U.S. Customs Service has collected approximately $5 billion in duties to date, and they have yet to be distributed. Several rulings by North American Free Trade Agreement panels have found that current duties on softwood lumber shipments are illegal and that the U.S. should repay the duties that have been collected. However, the U.S. has been dragging out the legal proceedings in an effort to reach a negotiated settlement. In addition, the World Trade Organization has ruled that the Byrd amendment violates its trade rules. President Bush signed the budget bill into law last week. For more information, contact Jason Lynn at x8307. [return to top]

House GOP Elects New Majority Leader
House Republicans on Feb. 2 selected eight-term Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) to serve as Majority Leader.  Boehner, former House GOP Conference Chairman and current Chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, succeeds Rep. Tom Delay, who resigned his post Jan. 7 as a result of violations of state campaign finance laws in his home state of Texas.  Boehner narrowly defeated (by a vote of 122-109) Majority Whip Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), who served temporarily as Majority Leader upon DeLay's departure. 

Boehner is a great friend of the housing industry.  During the past year, he supported NAHB's positions on estate tax repeal and government-sponsored enterprises (GSE), Endangered Species Act and class action reform. He is also a cosponsor of key NAHB legislation.  His committee is the driving force behind Association Health Plan legislation and OSHA reform efforts.  He has an "A" BUILD-PAC rating. [return to top]