Each chamber of Congress has now approved changes in the National Flood Insurance Program that would make it more affordable for homeowners.

We commend Sen. Thad Cochran, Sen. Roger Wicker and Rep. Steven Palazzo for helping convince their colleagues to modify the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012. We hope they will be just as successful in reconciling the differences in the House and Senate versions of the bills.

It has not been easy reaching this point. There has been a concerted effort to brand the NFIP as a federal subsidy for protecting the beachfront vacation homes of the wealthy. This campaign insults the far more numerous middle-class homeowners whose property is also in a flood zone but who cannot afford skyrocketing increases in their premiums.

While too much attention has been given a sliver of NFIP policyholders, too little has been given the financial history of the NFIP.

A study of the NFIP released last year by Greater New Orleans Inc. found that since the late 1960s, NFIP collected $44.72 billion in premiums and paid out $44.71 billion in claims. But the NFIP also spent nearly $20 billion on operating expenses and commissions for insurance agents. That is a hefty amount of overhead.

So we again ask Congress to examine NFIP’s operating costs, as well as its rate structure.

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